TLOU Another Journey
by Hack Interrupted
Summary: Spoilers for The Last of Us Joel and Ellie return to Jackson to live a quiet life, but he can't horde the cure for mankind forever.
1. Chapter 1

Jackson

Chapter One

After a late dinner Maria sent a grateful teen off to take a hot shower and then went to rummage through her closet to find some clean clothes for Ellie to put on when she came out. Tommy cleared the dishes from the table and broke out a bottle of whiskey and three glasses. He took them to the table and poured a drink for his tired looking big brother. "Here ya go man. Looks like you could use this."

Joel sat up and wrapped his left hand around the glass as Tommy finished pouring. "Is it rot gut?"

Tommy laughed pouring his own drink. "Does it matter?"

"No," Joel sighed and lifted his drink. "I suppose not." He took a generous swallow as his little brother sat down. "Its not too bad actually."

"There's still a whole lotta stuff laying around out there just waiting to be picked up, including stuff at liquor stores." He smiled at Joel and downed a shot of his whiskey. "I sure am glad you made it back here big brother. Don't you worry about a thing either. We're gonna set you and Ellie up in one of them houses down the street."

"I appreciate it Tommy." The lingering warmth of the drink made Joel feel how tired he was. "We're gonna pitch in around here too, we can pull our own weight. You sign me up for that watch of yours."

"I figured as much, but you and Ellie can take a few days to get settled in, the weekend at least. There aint no rush."

"Alright." Joel indulged in another sip. He would sleep good tonight, whiskey soothed tired muscles and his stiff back.

He drank with his brother. "That girl of yours is going to need to start up some kinda schooling too. She ever had any book learnin' ?"

"She went to one of them military academies for a while back in the Boston QZ. She likes reading."

"Good. I'll have Maria make some arrangements, figure out what to do with her. We don't have a regular school just yet, but our kids aint growin' up ignorant. We're gonna need doctors and engineers ya kin?"

Joel nodded. "Rebuilding civilization is a mighty big job little brother."

"We can do it, we can come back. No, we _are_ coming back." Tommy knocked back another shot. "Most of the raids are on the power plant."

"You can put me on watch there, I'll take care of the bandits."

"I've been thinking of getting a posse together, ride out and see just how many of the fuckers we're dealing with. If their numbers are small, well we could end a lot of trouble right then and there either peacefully or otherwise, but if there's more of them then there are of us then we'll need a plan B."

"Going to war with the bandits?"

Tommy leaned back in his chair and looked at his brother. "Only if we have to. This world is big enough to share if folks can be civilized."

_Always the optimist_. "You just let me know when and where you need me to point my gun and I'll be there." Joel took the rest of his drink in one swallow and blew out a hot breath.

"I figured you'd say something like that. Sounds like things got pretty hard core out on the road."

"Yeah, they sure did."

Maria came into the kitchen as Tommy lifted the bottle to pour Joel another drink. "You gonna join us for a drink babe?"

"Damn right I am," she took the seat beside Tommy across from Joel. Tommy poured her drink and she went right for it.

"Say babe, Ellie is gonna need some schooling."

"She's at a higher level then most of the kids here. We'll probably have to send her to your girlfriend," she gave him a hard look and downed a shot.

Tommy cracked a goofy smile. "Lil aint my girlfriend. I dunno how many times I gotta tell you she wouldn't never give me the time of day." He laughed as his furious wife reached over and swatted him in the arm.

"I'll give you the time of day you jackass," Maria smacked his giggling ass once more for good measure.

Joel was already uncomfortable around Maria, he hoped Ellie's schooling wasn't going to give her another reason not to like him. "Uh, is there a problem?"

"Naw," Tommy brought himself under control and refilled Joel's glass and refreshed his own.

"Tommy has been friends with Lily since he was with the fireflies, isn't that right dear?" she sipped again.

"Yeah that's right." He set the bottle down and picked up his glass.

"She from Boston?" Joel was searching his memory for the name, but it remained unfamiliar.

"New York," Tommy drank. "She was in Boston for a time, but it was back when you and I wasn't none too friendly. Don't think ya met her or the others from New York."

He nodded in understanding. Joel wasn't keen on Tommy joining the fireflies, it started a feud between the siblings. "She gonna be Ellie's teacher?"

"It's likely," Maria already knew. "Ellie is smart, she's up for the challenge I suppose." She drank some more whisky. "Despite the fact that this idiot has a thing for Lillian- "

"I do not!" Tommy protest and laughed again.

"Despite that," Maria rolled her eyes away from her husband and continued. "I respect Lily and I like her. I think she'll make a good teacher for Ellie. She's been an asset to this town, she's smart and a good leader. I'm glad we got her to stay."

Tommy drank watching his wife. "She's been good for us, had a hand in everything from agriculture to security."

"And she was a firefly?" Joel masked his disgust with another swallow.

"Long time ago," Tommy kept up shot for shot with big brother. "She left em not long after I did."

It was good to know that Ellie's would be teacher was no longer a firefly but "She keep in touch with em?"

"Naw, Lily's been on the outside mostly since those days. Used to run with different groups setting up strongholds here and there. Showed up here three years ago with a small group, a woman about to give birth was with them. Their place had been over run and they were in need of a safe place to have a screaming bundle of joy so we took em in. Lily left for a while after that, but came back about a year ago and finally sank some roots here."

Joel was relieved to hear the teachers ties to the fireflies had long since dissolved, but he was quietly troubled about the amount of time she had spent away from the zones. Survival in the untamed world could be a brutal thing. The happy couples confidence in the teacher quieted his discontent some. "I trust you'll pick the right teacher for Ellie ma'am," Joel lifted his glass to his sister in law and she lifted hers.

While his wife and brother bonded Tommy sat back and watched. "Joel says he'd join the posse to go lookin' for them bandits."

Maria swallowed hard. "Damnit Tommy, haven't we been through this already? It's too fucking dangerous."

"What if it aint? Or what if the danger don't outweigh the good that could come of knowing what the hell we're up against?"

"Tommy," she warned.

"Listen, the raids aint happening as frequently and the number of bums they send each time has gotten smaller. We could be on the verge of bringing this shit to an end."

"This shit never ends. There is always going to be assholes out there that want to take everything we've worked for."

"All the more reason to thin their numbers then." Tommy stared into her angry blue eyes waiting for her to see his reason.

"It's _still_ fucking dangerous."

Hubby was going to get his way this time. "Don't worry babe, I'll have my brother watching my back. This guy here has killed more motherfuckers then I know." Tommy laughed happy with his little triumph.

Maria flat eyed Joel. "You be sure to keep him safe."

He hated to be in the middle of Tommy's personal problems. "Yes ma'am."

She looked back at her happy man. "How about we move Joel and Ellie into the brown house down the street? Ellie and I can go down there tomorrow and freshen the place up some, see what all they'll need to keep house over there."

"Sounds great to me babe." Tommy sealed it with a kiss.

Big brother looked down into his glass to give Tommy and Maria their private moment. He tried not to think about the fireflies, about Marlene. In the end all he could do was hope that he had killed anyone that might come looking for his baby girl.

2

"Ahhh! That was sooo good," Ellie exclaimed shuffling into the kitchen in the pajamas Maria gave her. "Hot showers are the best."

Joel perked up when she came in despite the warm, sleepy buzz the whiskey had given him. "You feeling better now?"

"Absolutely, thanks for the jammies Maria."

"No problem Ellie," Maria smiled at the girl.

"Get this," Joel smiled at his girl. "Tomorrow we're moving into a house down the street."

"Just us?" Ellie blinked.

"A home for the two of ya," Tommy sipped more whiskey.

Seeing the girl light up lifted Maria's spirits. "We'll go down there in the morning and have a look around. The place will need some cleaning."

"I'll do it!" Ellie bubbled excited.

"I'll help," Joel counted himself in.

Tommy nodded at big bro. "You'll have to turn the water back on at the main, flip the circuit breaker too. We shut all kinds of stuff off after we got the power plant up and running the first time."

It had been a long time since Joel had been in construction, but some things you never forget. "I'll give the place a thorough inspection."

"It's got a nice fireplace in the living room if I remember correctly."

Winter still seemed far away in Ellie's mind, but still "Is that how we heat the place?"

"Mostly," Tommy chuckled at her. "This is the back woods girl."

"I guess so." Ellie hung her towel around her neck. "I didn't use up all the hot water so you can take a shower too Joel."

He swallowed whiskey. "Mighty nice way for you to tell me I stink," Joel teased and got her to smile again.

"I can get you something clean to put on old man," Tommy turned the teasing on Joel. "I aint got no fancy jammies so you're just gonna have to settle for joggin pants."

"That'll do."

Maria got Ellie's attention again. "You'll have to start up some kind of schooling Ellie. Can you tell me how far you got in your studies?"

"I was in eighth grade, for whatever that's worth," the young one sighed at the thought of school. The memories weren't fond ones.

"Good, then I've got the perfect tutor for you."

_Tutor_ gave her some hope. "There's no school here?"

"Nothing official yet. We have folks to do the teaching though. You'll have to go to her place for your lessons."

Ellie shrugged her shoulders. "Okay. What about the other kids my age?"

"Aint many," Tommy answered. "The Millers got a girl whose twelve and Jeff Jacobs boy is seventeen."

"You don't need to be paling around with no seventeen year old boy," Joel's parental nature took over.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Of course not, why would I want to have a life or friends."

"Boys at that age," Joel stuttered. "You just don't need it, you hear me Ellie?"

"Yeah Joel, I hear ya." She suspect the adults were about to get parental so Ellie decided to bug out. "I think I'm just going to lay down and read for a while. Its been a long day."

"Rest up sweetheart," Maria pat Ellie's arm. "Busy day tomorrow."

"Right, okay. Well, goodnight." Those seated around the table bade her goodnight and then she was gone. Ellie retreated to the guest room to read the comic she found earlier.

Joel sat and talked house maintenance with Tommy for another round then indulged in a long hot shower himself. As the last of the road grime circled the drain Joel put Marlene and the fireflies out of his mind. He was ready to start a new life here with his family and that was what mattered to him now. He could only hope the past would stay there.

3

For the first time in ages Joel slept soundly and slept in. He woke up on the living room couch; the room was bright, Maria's voice mingled with Ellie's in the kitchen behind him and Joel smelled something both familiar and overwhelmingly comforting. "Coffee..." he breathed and sat up. He threw off the blanket and put his bare feet down on the floor. His throat was dry and he had to pee, but he got up and went straight for the kitchen and the smell of "Ya'll got coffee?" he asked coming into the kitchen rubbing his eye with the heel of his hand.

Maria turned and smiled at her brother in law. "Sure do. I got some sugar too."

"Black is fine, hell black is great." His eyes found the coffee maker on the counter. The decanter was still about half full.

Maria pulled open a cupboard and grabbed a mug for Joel. She filled it and set it in front of him on the counter. "Been a long time between cups of Joe eh?"

"Yes ma'am." Joel picked up the mug and brought its warm weight under his nose. He inhaled deeply taking in the glorious aroma. "Oh man that smells good." He took a sip and it was perfect. For the briefest moment he could remember every cup of coffee he ever had in his life. From Starbucks and Tim Horton's to the old coffee maker his wife had started calling Darth Vader when it needed cleaning. The pain of his loss felt fresh again as he swallowed the black brew. He blinked it away and looked up at Maria. "That's some good coffee ma'am thank you."

"Is it everything you remember it was?" Ellie asked curious. He sure looked like he was enjoying the coffee.

He nodded at Ellie. "It sure is."

"We grow it, the coffee that is," Maria had promised Tommy when he left this morning to be nice to big brother trouble. "It was actually Ellie's teacher's idea to grow it. We've had a couple of great harvests the past two years."

"I tried it without the sugar," Ellie confessed to her guardian. "It was gross Joel, I don't know how you can drink something so bitter."

"It's an acquired taste I guess."

"Or your taste buds are all dead."

Joel laughed at Ellie and Maria joined him. "Ellie and I were headed over to the house to open the windows and see what needs doing. Probably everything. It's been empty for a long time. Its a solid place though, windows got all their glass, most of the screens too."

"I'll come down and give the plumbing and electric the once over, make sure everything looks safe." Joel took another sip and kept memories of a life before this at bay.

"The place should have everything we need to clean with, vacuum, washer and dryer. Of course if there's a clothes line we'll use that instead." Maria was looking forward to settling in another family, her family. "It has three bedrooms upstairs. I'm guessing Joel will take the master."

"You guessed right," he tipped his mug at his sister in law and sipped more warm coffee.

Ellie groaned. "Fine but I get to pick which room I want." Then it hit her. "I'm going to have my own room in my own house."

Seeing her smile like that made Joel confident he had done the right thing in Salt Lake. "Moving right on up in the world aint ya?"

"Look who's talking mister _master_ bedroom."

Maria laughed at them again. Today wasn't going to be nearly as bad as she dread it was going to be. Maybe her gruff big brother could grow on her a little. "The roof looks okay from the outside anyway. The place even has a little garage and a decent back yard, fully fenced in of course."

"I can't wait to see it," Joel downed more coffee.

"Well then hurry up and go get dressed!" Ellie was getting excited. _Our own house where we can just live like normal people_. She laughed out loud. "Let's go home!"

4

The house had been coated with twenty years of dust; curtains came down, bedding was stripped and mattresses went out into the back yard to air out in the sun. Joel checked the pipes before turning the water back on and found a slow leak under the downstairs bathroom sink shortly afterwards. It was an easy enough fix, the previous owner had left a variety of useful things behind in the cellar and garage. The house showed no signs of water damage and when he turned the power back on the electric worked fine. The trio dusted, mopped, scrubbed, vacuumed and washed until noon when they headed back with Maria for lunch.

Tommy came home for lunch and ate with his family. The mood was light, his big brother and his girl seemed pretty happy with their new place. Maria was going to get them some food for their recently cleaned refrigerator after lunch, the dynamic duo was going back to cleaning up and moving into their new home. They would be living there by sun down. Joel promised Ellie a home cooked meal and Maria promised to get Joel some coffee for his maker. Tommy asked Joel to stop by the town hall before he put his apron on. He wanted big bro to have a walkie and get in on communicating with the community. Tommy also promised to swing by Joel's place after dinner to see how they were settling in.

Joel and Ellie returned home after lunch and worked hard to finish the cleaning and endless laundry. Maria brought Joel a few perks along with some food. She gave big brother a couple bottles of house warming booze and two bags of coffee. He immediately made a pot; to keep him going and because he hadn't had enough of that aroma or taste just yet. They had every room done but the third bedroom that was furnished as an office before calling it a day on the room cleaning. A little before four Ellie got started on dishes and Joel headed out to go pick up a walkie. It was time to be at his little brothers beck and call for a change.

There were a few people out and about; a woman came out of the library with a little boy, a group of three men were putting new shingles up on a roof, a man and woman, both armed with long guns stood taking outside of the town hall. The man looked over at Joel as he mounted the steps to go inside, but the man never broke off the conversation he was having. Joel stepped up into a cool open hall. The reception window was open and a man wearing glasses looked up at him. "Afternoon," Joel greeted.

It wasn't often the towns population jumped up. Tommy's brother and his little girl were the talk of the town. "Good afternoon, I'm Matt Williams. You must be Tommy's brother."

"That's me." Joel stepped forward and offered a hand through the open window. "Name's Joel. Good to meet you Matt."

Matt stood up and shook the new guys hand. "Good to meet you too Joel, welcome to town."

"Thank you."

"You settling in okay?"

"Sure are."

"I've got a radio here for ya. Tommy said you'll be joining the watch."

Joel nodded. "We'll be earning our keep."

Matt reached over for the walkie Tommy had him earmark for big brother. "It's you and your daughter right?"

"I suppose I kinda adopted her. She's a good kid."

He passed Joel his radio. "She'll be starting lessons pretty soon then?"

"I reckon," Joel took the hand held and studied it some.

"We have some great teachers."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Town is full of good people. I'm sure you'll both be real happy here."

Joel returned the clerks smile. His eyes seemed to swim behind his coke bottle glasses. "I think we will."

"Patrol uses channel two. Channel four is open to the public, in case ya need to make a call." Matt passed the new guy the charger to go with the unit.

"If I wanted to call Tommy?"

"Give him a shout on channel two, he's almost always got his ears on."

It had been two decades since Joel had a new gadget to play with. "Thankee kindly, much obliged."

He chuckled some at the Texan. "No problem. If you need anything, I'm here most days from nine until about five."

"Thanks again Matt, good meeting you."

"You too Joel."

Joel went back out into the fading spring day with his new toy in his hands. The woman and child were gone, the man and woman had moved on down the street. He walked back to the house leaving the sound of pounding hammers behind him.

5

As promised Joel made a fantastic meal out of some of the items Maria brought them. The broiled venison steaks and potatoes were delicious. Ellie discovered that the television and DVD player in the living room still worked, the house had come packed with books upstairs and a sizeable DVD collection down. After they ate she talked him into picking out a movie for the two of them to watch together in their vacuumed and deodorized new living room. Joel looked over some titles with Ellie chirping excitedly behind him "Come on come on! I want to watch a movie already."

"How about a comedy."

"Sure."

He slid the case out and popped out the DVD. Joel put _Raising Arizona_ into the disk tray. "I aint seen this one in years. It's hilarious. Really launched Nicolas Cage's career."

Ellie picked up the case and looked at it. She flipped it over and read the back cover. "Criminals with a baby? You watch some weird movies Joel." She settled on the couch and watched coming attractions with great interest. She took note of some movie names so she could look for them in the house's collection.

The yodeling was in full swing and Ellie was in hysterics over the robbery and chase scene when Tommy showed up. He had to sit and watch for a while. After Hi's boss man ran into a cactus Tommy and Joel went over to the dining room table for a night cap. "Gonna have a meeting at the town hall tomorrow night, boys who want in on the bandit hunt. Starts at seven, you in?"

Joel poured them each a drink. "I'm in."

"Good man," Tommy swallowed a generous gulp. "I knew I could count on you. We'll track those bastards right back to their camp and then we'll se what's what."

"I'm a little low on ammo."

"I'll make sure you're geared up." The brothers sipped whiskey together. "Maria talked to Lil today. She says Ellie can start her lessons Monday morning."

Joel appreciated the whisky burn for a moment. "It will be good for her to have some structure." From the couch Ellie erupted in laughter again and Joel smiled. "Kid being a kid, how about that?"

Tommy was happy for his brother. There was no replacing Sara, but being a dad to Ellie gave Joel a second chance. "This is the place where she can be a kid. We'll defend that." He relaxed back in his chair. "Lil will stop by here sometime tomorrow to meet Ellie, get a feel for where she is academically."

Joel downed another swallow. "Been twenty years since I had a parent teacher conference."

"Yeah, I guess it has."

"Anything you wanna tell me about this teacher that's got your old ladies knickers in a twist?"

Tommy chuckled. "I never got her in bed if that's what you're after."

"Wouldn't give you the time of day."

"That's right," he laughed again.

"I'm more concerned about any ties she has to the fireflies."

"Shit Joel, aint nobody here seen a firefly in years. She cut loose from them not long after I did." He watched big brother take another sip. "There something you wanna tell me about the fireflies?"

Joel cut his eyes over to the giggling girl on the couch. "Maybe later Tommy."

He nodded in understanding. "Sure thing man, some other time."

"Look, we just want to start over. No more fucking hunters or fireflies or infected. Just a nice, safe, quiet home life."

"You can do that here." Tommy took another sip waiting for big brother to relax. "How ya'll settling in?"

"We're good."

"Gonna sleep in your own beds tonight."

"Ellie washed pillows and blankets and curtains. Girl worked real hard today to make this place our home and I aim to protect it."

Tommy smiled. "I'll swing by for ya tomorrow, we'll go to that meeting together."

On the television screen Cage and John Goodman fought their way through the trailer. It got Ellie laughing again. _I will protect this... from anybody._ "Sounds good."

"If you don't go gettin yourself killed between now and Monday, you can take first or second watch over at the power plant."

"First shift is fine. I've always been a real morning person." He looked up at the face his little brother was making and chuckled. Tommy joined him and laughter filled their home on their first night there.

Tommy was long gone before they returned the baby to Nathan Arizona. Ellie loved the movie and was ready to try something in a different genera. She fixated on a set of DVD box sets clustered together. "Ever hear of _Xena Warrior Princess_?" she asked the tired man kicking back in the recliner.

"Xena huh? Yeah I remember that one. Its probably right up your alley. She kicks a lot of ass."

Smiling Ellie pulled out the first box set. "There's six seasons here, is that all of it? You know how I feel about 'to be continued' Joel."

"I think that's all of it."

"Wanna watch it with me?"

"Sure, we can watch a few episodes tonight, but I want you gettin into bed at a decent time."

"I will, I will," Ellie tried to sound put out, but she was smiling. Laying around the living room watching tv with Joel was more then she ever hoped for. It made her feel like they were a _real_ family. She put _Raising_ _Arizona_ back in its case and put in the first Xena disk. _Yeah, we're finally home_.

"Don't forget your new teacher is stoppin by to meet you tomorrow."

"She's going to meet you too." Ellie went back to the couch. "Maria told me about her; she said she's really smart and nice and pretty and single."

His little girl was flashing him a winning smile. "You trying to get me a date?"

"Maybe you need one."

"How about you don't concern yourself with my love life."

"You don't have a love life Joel," she rolled her eyes back to the tv. "Can't blame girl for trying."

Joel was nursing a second glass of whiskey. He wondered if Ellie was missing having a woman to look up to in her life. Maybe Maria or the new teacher would help with that, Joel wasn't particularly interested in looking for love. He had Ellie, Tommy and even Maria; family was all he needed to be happy.

The episode began _In a time of ancient gods, warlords and kings_ and Joel rode a wave of nostalgia warmed by whiskey. By the end of the second episode Joel was sending another little girl all excited about the warrior princess up to bed. That night he dreamed of Sara.


	2. Chapter 2

Jackson

Chapter Two

In the morning Joel showed Ellie how to make perfect fried eggs and sausage. Their toaster was broken so he made their toast in the oven. Ellie praised his cooking, it was way better then the usual slop she was fed back at the academy, better then tin can meals out on the road. After they cleaned up breakfast they began the tasks of cleaning out the closets and dressers of the former owners. Joel found a good lot of shirts the man of the house left behind, but most of the guys pants were two sizes bigger then what he could keep up. Luckily the pajamas had a string tie waist so he kept those too. The lady of the house was more petite and Ellie confiscated the things she would ware. It all added up to another mountain of laundry to weigh down the clothesline out back.

The sorting didn't take long, after they filled the line once Ellie went to start in the office with all the books and Joel went out to the garage to find something to trim back the grass and weeds getting tall in the late spring sunshine. He found a decent pair of trimmers and an old bottle of witch hazel to clean them up with. Once he got them in working order he got down on his knees and cut all the grass around the clothesline short. Joel made a wide path to the back door. He came in for a glass of water and called up to check on Ellie. "Find anything good up there?"

"A lot of books!" Ellie shouted toward the door.

Joel smiled suspecting his girl would want to read every one of them. He finished his cool drink and set his glass on the counter next to the sink. "I'm gonna do some more trimmin around the house, you yell if you need anything!"

"Okay!" Ellie slid another hardbound fiction off the shelf and looked at the dust jacket. There were some kind of animal bones on the front. "_The Lost World_, sounds cool."

He went out the back door and started clearing the two feet closest to the house. He worked counter clock wise around the place losing himself in the work and the warm sun. A breeze kept him cool, in the distance he heard hammers, finishing up the roof he supposed. Joel was working his way towards the front door when from behind him "No don't cut that!" startled him out of his daze. Joel turned and looked up at a woman who had come up behind him. She wore a gun on one hip and one of Tommy's walkies on the other. He blinked at her curiously. "Uhh..."

Lily arrived just in time to save the shrubbery from a terrible hacking. She stepped closer and pointed it out. "That's a niko blue hydrangea. Ornamentals are still pretty rare in this town and I haven't had the chance to try and propagate that plant yet."

Joel lifted a brow. "You the plant police?"

"I'm Lily Brenton, the closest thing there is to a botanist in this town and I'm Ellie's tutor."

_Whoops_. "Oh, is that right?" Joel got up and wiped his hands down the front of his jeans. "Well pardon me ma'am. I'm Joel, Ellie's guardian." He offered her his hand and an apologetic smile.

She shook Joel's hand. Tommy had talked about his big brother to her more then a few times. Lily studied his face, there was steel in his eyes. "Nice to meet you."

"You too." He needed to smooth things over fast. "Is there anything else in this overgrown mess that I shouldn't be cutting down?"

There was. "Over here is a rose bush you can clip back some but not down to the ground, that would probably kill it." Joel followed her to the other side of the front steps. She grabbed some leaf. "This is all peony, I think you've cut some down on the other side, but it will probably live."

"I hope I didn't kill nothin, I was just trying to get some of this mess under control."

"Ellie will be learning about flora, maybe she'll help you with the gardening end of home maintenance."

_Home maintenance_ put a smile on his face. "That sounds good. Ellie's inside, why not come in and meet her."

"That's what I'm here for, plant policing is just an added bonus."

"Right," Joel chuckled and lead Lily inside through the front door. He went to the stairs and yelled up to Ellie. "Hey Ellie, your new teachers here! Come on down!"

"Coming!" Ellie called back.

Joel turned back to their guest. "Please, take a seat. Make yourself at home. Can I get you a drink or somethin?"

"No thanks I'm fine." Lily went to the couch as Ellie came bounding down the stairs.

Her eyes found her tutor right away. "Hi, I'm Ellie." She came forward to meet her teacher.

"Nice to meet you Ellie I'm Lily, mind if we sit and talk for a minute?"

"Sure." Ellie came around the other side of the couch and the ladies sat facing each other.

"You sure I can't offer you a cup of coffee?" Joel tried again.

"Joel is really happy to have coffee again," Ellie smiled at the big guy.

Lily grinned up at her host. "Looking for an excuse to brew some?"

He laughed a little. "Yes ma'am."

"Fine, I'll have a cup if you stop calling me ma'am."

"What would you have me call you?"

"Just call me Lily, everyone else does."

"Alright then Miss Lily I'll go start some coffee and let you girls get to it." Joel bowed out and went to the kitchen to make coffee.

She turned her attention back to her new kid. "It looks like you guys busted ass cleaning this place up."

"We spent all day cleaning yesterday and even more today. I've never done so much laundry in my life."

"You're from the Boston quarantine zone?"

"Born and raised."

"You went to school there?"

"Yeah mostly. A few years ago I ended up in the military academy. I was in the eighth grade class there before I left."

Lily would save other questions about Boston for another time. "Maria says you like to read."

"Yeah I love to read."

"I'd like for you to make me a list of all the books you've read, everything you can remember."

Ellie smiled proudly. "Okay, but its going to be a pretty long list."

"Do you know how to write an outline Ellie?"

"With the Roman numerals and letters going down?"

"Yup that's it. What I would like you to do is outline all of the different subjects you learned in school and how far you got, what you studied in each. I don't want to waste our time on crap you already know."

She was ready for the challenge. "Yeah, I can do that. What kind of stuff do you teach?"

"You're in for a lot of science and history. It wont be as boring as you think."

"Me and Joel, umm, I mean Joel and I are watching a history show together. Well, historical fiction anyway. Our tv still works pretty good."

Her student was trying to impress her. Lily smiled. "From what period?"

"Ancient Greece, the gods and warriors and stuff. Xena, ever heard of it?"

"I remember the show. It was pretty good. Sam Rami went on to direct a couple of the Spiderman movies. He had a great career."

"This house has a lot of movies and books still in good shape. Maybe you could look at the books upstairs and recommend something for me to read?"

"More homework?"

"The fun kind I hope."

That would depend on what books were upstairs. "Let's go take a look. I'll see what's good."

Joel had the coffee dripping when he heard the two move up to the office. He and Ellie had gone over what she could tell people again last night. _You can't tell people you're one of the immune or that the fireflies have stopped looking for a cure._ He told her it was because he didn't want to rob anybody of any hope they might still be holding onto. The truth was Joel just wanted it to be over and forgotten before Ellie figured out he was lieing to her about the fireflies. He cast his eyes up at the ceiling listening to the soft muffled voices of the girls upstairs.

He could see why baby brother was crushing on Lily, she was the prettiest thing Joel had seen in a long time. She was a petite little lady not too much bigger then Ellie, but she had an ample bosom and really long hair; both features on a woman turned Tommy's head quick. Lily had a pretty face and big dark eyes, but Joel wasn't fool enough not to see the quick draw gleam in them when he smarted off to her. He was plenty sure Miss Lily was one dangerous woman.

The coffee finished and Joel heard the footsteps and voices move down to Ellie's room. Her voice came stronger and faster, clearly excited. He heard her laugh as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Just be a kid for a while baby girl, you've earned it." The footsteps headed for the stairs.

Ellie came down with a book in her hand leading her likeable new tutor into the kitchen. "Hey Joel, do you think you can teach me about baseball?"

"Baseball?" he turned to greet the girls. "Sure I can do that."

"Do you remember a guy named Tom Gordon?"

"Sure, he was a pretty good ball player. Miss Lily, can I get you that cup of coffee?"

She took a step back. "Actually I'm going to have to take a rain check on the coffee. I still have some things to do today and this thing later so Ellie and I are going to step out into the back yard to pick out a spot for a vegetable garden. Cultivating, preserving and preparing food is part of the science I teach."

It sounded quite sensible to Joel. "Would it be alright if I give Ellie a hand with it all? I'm up for growing some fresh veggies."

"Sure, you can help her turn it all over. Come on Ellie, let's go pick a spot. It was nice to meet you Joel we'll talk again soon."

"Pleasure was all mine Miss Lily. You can come by and check in on Ellie anytime. Let me know what I can do to help when I can."

"I will," Lily followed Ellie out the back door.

Joel sipped coffee and looked down at the book Ellie left on the table. "_The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon_. Aint that Stephen King feller kinda scary?" He turned the paperback over and read the description. Joel closed his eyes for a moment and pictured Sara in her team colors. She loved her sports, a side effect of growing up with a single dad_. And now here I go again with Ellie_. He opened his eyes and looked at the pair out in the back yard. Ellie was smiling and nodding at her new teacher. Joel sighed away some tension. "It's gonna be just fine." He sat at the small kitchen table and waited for Ellie to come back inside.

After the meet and greet Lily departed to finish running her errands. Ellie came in through the back door with a smile on her face. "So, what do you think?"

He watched her come to the little table. "Well what do you think?"

"I think its not going to be like school at all."

"Oh yeah?"

"It's going to be more like rolling in knowledge." Ellie cracked up. "I think Lily is going to be an awesome tutor."

It appeared the females had already bonded. "I think you're gonna have to work hard to impress that lady."

"No problem," Ellie sat in the chair next to Joel. "What did you think of her hmmm?" she tucked one fist under her chin and leaned forward on the table.

"She seems smart, on top of things."

"Uncle Tommy has the hots for her. Maria told me."

Joel still wasn't used to hearing his girl call his brother uncle, but it was something Ellie and Tommy decided on and so Joel just let it be. "You don't say?" he sipped his coffee.

"I can totally see why. Lily is pretty. Don't you think so?"

"I reckon she is."

_Mwahahahaha_. Ellie had already decided within the first ten minutes of meeting her new teacher that she just had to try and hook her up with Joel. Lily was totally cool. "With her being my teacher and all, you guys will probably have to spend some time together talking about me and stuff."

"Ellie," he regarded her squirming with patience. When she had ulterior motives, she couldn't hide it from him. "I intend to help you with your school work when I can, but I aint gonna go paling around with your teacher."

"Why not? What if you guys could be friends? It wouldn't hurt you to have a friend Joel. Is it because Uncle Tommy will get jealous?"

"Tommy's got nothin to do with it." Joel sighed and shook his head. "You aint old enough to understand that a woman like Miss Lily got trouble written up one side of her and down the other. Hell, her dang existence is enough to get Tommy in trouble."

"Maria actually likes Lily ya know. They rip on uncle Tommy behind his back."

"See, trouble. Don't you go pickin up no bad habits from her."

This put a kink in her plans, but Ellie wasn't ready to give up. _Retreat and fight again another day. Operation Get Together can still work._ "I wont," she sighed.

He sipped more brew. "Didn't Miss Lily assign you some homework young lady?"

"Yes."

"Don't you think maybe you ought to get to it? I mean, if you want to watch more Xena later."

"You don't have to bribe me to do my homework," Ellie said standing up. For good measure she added "Yet." She went to go find some paper and a working writing utensil.

Joel watched her go with a little smile on his face. He understood she was just trying to take care of him and he loved her all the more for it. A growing teenage girl was going to give him enough trouble, especially with teenage boys in this town. "Ellie," he smiled and finished what was left in his mug.

2

Joel finished clipping down the yard to something presentable then started to dig out the perimeter of their new vegetable garden. By the time he quit to go in and fix them some dinner his knees were angry with him. He wanted a drink to quiet them, but passed so that he could go to Tommy's meeting with a clear head. Ellie finished her book list and part of the outline before the paperback called her to start reading. The story reached out and grabbed her, she could identify with Trisha's disorientation and fear. Ellie set the book down to help make the meat sauce for the noodles. After dinner she gave the reading a break to watch another episode with Joel before he went off with Tommy. They got through one and a half episodes before Tommy arrived. Ellie promised to stop the dvd at the end of the episode and wait for Joel to watch anymore. She wanted tv to be their thing and she wanted to get back to her book.

The sun was almost gone and the night was coming on chilly as the brothers walked toward the center of town. "Got about a dozen guys coming tonight. Can't say they'll all be in, but most will."

"You think taking it to them is the right idea?"

"It has to be this way. We got women and children here. Don't want them tangled up in any more fighting."

"Alright then we'll take the shooting to their camp. Is a dozen guys gonna be enough?"

"Maybe. We'll see what we're dealing with and plan accordingly." They stepped along a little faster. "You and Ellie meet Lil today?"

"Yup, she came by the house. Her and Ellie hit it off pretty good. I think they'll do alright together."

"She got you diggin up your back yard for tomatoes yet?" Tommy laughed.

"I started this afternoon."

He smiled at his big brother. "Lily says grow food not lawns, at least in our back yards anyway. Its good to teach kids how to keep our food system goin."

"Ellie's got homework already."

Tommy knew Joel had to have missed this sort of thing. "This place will be home for ya'all. Give it time, you'll see."

Joel followed Tommy to the town hall and back into the conference room. Six men and a woman were already there mulling around the table. "Boys, Lil," Tommy greeted his team coming in. "Anybody else comin?"

"Rob's wife said no dice and Susan backed out on a count of her little ones," Stuart piped up with answers.

"Alright then, take a seat, we'll get started." Tommy flashed Lily a winning smile. "You can sit next to me darlin."

Lily pushed past Tommy and opted for the seat next to Joel. "I'm telling Maria on you."

"I know you are," he laughed back as everyone got seated.

"Miss Lily," Joel nodded at her concerned to find her here.

"Hey Joel. Ellie start her homework?"

"Yes she did. Been reading that book too."

Lily nodded at Tommy's big brother. "She'll like the story."

"Wasn't Stephen King a horror writer?"

"Mostly, but his use of descriptive narration is some of the best in print. Did you ever read his books?"

"One of em, _The Gunslinger_, back when I was young."

"I have the _Dark Tower_ series, its excellent."

Tommy leaned over his brother and eyed the chatty pair. "You two wanna quit yer flirtin and join us?" Tim and Kenny laughed across the table.

"We were talking about my girls schooling thank you very much," Joel grumbled back defensively.

"Okay, here's the deal," Lily spoke up grabbing and opening the beat manila folder on the table. "We've been logging bandit activity for the past eight months and we've worked out some stats." Lily started passing out papers to be handed around the table.

Shawn took one and passed some more on. "We who?"

"Myself and Kyle."

"He's just a kid," Randy scoffed.

Lily straightened and glared at Randy. "I'm turning him into a mathematician for fucks sake Randy, okay? Give me some fucking credit and give me a fucking break."

Joel cut his eyes over to the scary woman as Randy slumped in his seat. Tommy saved the day with "Explain it to us Lil."

She looked at Tommy and then around the table. "The bottom line is they would max out at thirty guys tops. From everything we've seen its likely its just hunters."

"No women or kids," Tommy took over. "Ya'all know the type of men we're talkin about. Any which way, they're gonna outnumber us. Thing is, if we play it smart, we can even them odds."

There was some nodding and Lily dumped more info. "Their back trail puts them at about twenty six miles from here. They're probably holed up at one of the big ranch spreads down in the valley."

"Alright here's how this thing is gonna go down," Tommy grabbed their attention again. "We'll gear up and ride out at dawn. We're gonna track these guys and we're gonna get close, real close. Lil, I want you and Stu to take point. You set yourself up in a spot and Stu you guard her six."

Joel was sure Tommy had his reasons but "Wait a minute Tommy, what you sending in a school teacher for?"

"Because I'm the best sniper in this town," Lily condescended right back at him.

"She's right," Tommy lifted his brows at Lil. "And you'll call back the position of every man you see."

Joel was unsettled. "Then I'll go with her. I wanna access the situation too, if that alright with ya'all."

Tommy knew what kind of an asset his brother was going to be. "Alright then, you and Lily can be the advanced team. You get situated and report back. We'll meet up with ya and break up into two groups, flank em if we can. I want us all in constant communication. Lil, we'll be relying on you to tell us what you see and guard our asses."

"I'm on it."

"Tim Kenny Randy Dan, you guys are in one group. Stu, when we advance we'll sit you up there with Lil, Joel you Keith and Ben will come with me." There was a murmur of understanding and agreement. "Okay then, we're leaving at first light and ya need to plan on being gone all day at least. "Who needs a shift covered somewhere?"

Joel sat back while little brother did his politickian. He stole occasional glances at the best sniper in town, but didn't try to talk to her. Ellie had no idea the kind of time he was about to spend with her new teacher. _Teaching a kid to be a mathematician, holy shit. I bet she'll be real good for Ellie._ It was all the more reason for him to keep Miss Sniper alive and well on their mission.

After some more q and a the meeting broke up. Some of the guys needed to get someone to cover a watch for them, Tommy meant to go ask a few of his boys to pull a double at the plant tomorrow. As people were rising to get to their business Tommy got one last flirt in. "Sorry I can't see ya home Lil. Real sorry."

"Aint you married?" big brother jabbed.

"I see with my eyes not my hands." Tommy broke into giggles.

Lily shook her head. "I am so telling Maria on you."

"I know," he laughed harder.

"I'll escort Miss Lily home," Joel frowned at his fool brother.

She had about reached her limit with the Duke boys. "I don't need an escort home thanks."

Joel had other ideas. "It wouldn't be polite Miss Lily and besides, I thought we might talk a bit on the way."

_Bonus round_. Lily refrained from rolling her eyes. "Fine, but Tommy, next time I see Maria you are on so much trouble."

His giggles never stopped. "I didn't do nothin!" 

"You an idiot," big brother scolded.

"You're an idiot," Lily corrected getting flustered. Tommy was still chuckling.

"Yeah well, I'll see ya at dawn," Tommy broke off to go with Keith.

He turned to Ellie's teacher. "Miss Lily," he gestured toward the door.

"Right," she turned and headed out with her new kids pops behind her.

3

They walked in silence until they were away from the edge of town, then Joel began "Best sniper in town huh?"

_Here we go_. "I'm accurate about most things."

"Like teaching kids math?"

"Yup, like that."

"You got em growing coffee."

Lily sighed, she knew how to end it with a story. "A long time ago, back when the outbreak happened, I knew there were some things I didn't want to live without. I didn't find raw coffee beans right away, but I did have other seeds I took with me from place to place. I've been a regular Johnny Appleseed when it comes to some shit."

That was probably a good thing. "Like what?"

"Tomatoes, cucumber, beans, peas, squash, melons, apples, grapes, marijuana, lettuce, Swiss chard."

"Whoa whoa whoa, back up. Did you say marijuana? Like weed?"

"You do understand that medicinally speaking we've been flung back to medieval times. We can't just whip up most synthetic drugs in a lab. We're lucky to make aspirin right about now. Weed is for pain and serotonin imbalance in the brain and yes, some who choose it over alcohol."

"You study that? Plants and drugs and such?"

"Botany and pharmacology are subjects Ellie will be learning."

"Sounds pretty advanced."

Lily sighed. "Yeah well I'm really smart and I need to pass it on. Look, you don't have to worry about Ellie, she's going to learn some good shit and as far as tomorrow goes, you don't need to worry about that either. I've got an SR25 and I know how to use it."

"I imagine you're pretty good considering you've been on the outside most of the time. Tommy told me a little bit about you."

"He told me about you too," she warned.

"He told me you were good at survivin, helpin people out."

"He told me you were good at killing people." She cut her eyes over to his, for a moment they locked in the glow of the streetlight.

Her eyes were pitch in the dim. "When I need to be. You don't need to worry about me tomorrow either Miss Lily."

"You stepped up, so I'll put my trust in you." Lily stopped at the intersection. "You're that way, my place is over here. Get back to Ellie, I'll see you in the morning."

The gentleman in him wanted to argue, but Joel had to play it smart with this one. "Alright then Miss Lily, I'll see you bright and early."

"Okay," she turned and headed home in the dark.

Joel stood and watched her go for a minute, then started down the street in the opposite direction. He would judge Lily's sniping abilities and a whole lot more come tomorrow. He wasn't going to tell Ellie it was a raid he was going on, she would hear that he was doing something at the plant with Tommy in the morning. Joel wasn't even going to bring up Lily.

Ellie took it all in stride and they watched some more Xena while Joel eased his way through two short glasses of whiskey. They talked baseball for a while and Ellie told him about the story she was reading. It had its spook factor, but she liked it. When it started to get late Ellie went up to bed with her book. Joel made sure the place was locked up tight and headed to bed himself. He needed his rest for the mission come dawn.

4

He set his wind up alarm clock for four thirty and slapped it off within seconds of it bleating its shrill chime into the darkness of his bedroom. He didn't want to wake Ellie getting up and moving himself. He lay in bed for a minute feeling the aches and pains of old beatings and hard falls. _Another day of this shit_. He rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. Joel stumbled to his bathroom and into a nice hot shower. Once awake and dressed he went down for a cup of the coffee he programmed to brew for him last night. He debated which guns and gear to bring with him over his first cup and started getting his backpack together at the coffee table in the living room while he enjoyed his second.

Tommy knocked on Joel's door at six thirty. The brothers finished what was in the coffee pot and headed for the checkpoint. They were the last to arrive, nerves on edge made for a lot of early birds. The posse geared up, bullets and nail bombs alike, then rode out against the rising sun.


	3. Chapter 3

Jackson

Chapter Three

The posse followed the hunters back trail for about an hour before Tommy held them up. They were heading down hill into a valley, he sent Lily and Joel on ahead to see if they had found the bandits hiding place. The pair continued down an ever narrowing trail, conifers were reclaiming the old road. Lily led them in silence for a while and then she slowed and stopped her horse. "There," she looked through the trees sliding her gun bag off her back.

Joel twisted a little to see better. "I see smoke, campfire maybe."

She was sliding off her horse. "Lets find out." She threw her horses reigns over a low hanging branch and went to the rocks close to the edge of the steep decline. Lily unzipped her bag and set up her rifle as Joel got down behind her. She closed her right eye and looked through the scope. A hunter walked right through her cross hairs. "I see you scumbag."

"What do we got?" Joel came over and crouched down by Lily.

"Advance guard, looks like," she paused and watched the men moving around by the front gate of the ranch in the valley below. "I got grey shirt, blue shirt and red shirt on the right. Orange hat and a baldie walkin to the left."

"Any good cover down there?"

"Slim pickins down there, go on have a look," she backed away from the rifle to let Joel see for himself.

Cover between the edge of the tree line and the five bandits was minimal. "Shit," he grumbled quietly. "Got five of em on the gate." He moved the gun some to zoom in on the ranch house in the distance behind them. "I see two guys out in front of the ranch house, sittin there. We tussle with the five in front they might take notice." He straightened up and looked at her.

She shooed him out of the way and examined the ranch through the lens herself. "I could take out the two shits on the porch, gun will sound real far away to them, but its likely to rial up whoever is inside the place."

"Getting our men down there to flank em with that shitty coverage is going to take some doing."

"When I start sniping that will create a distraction, give our guys a chance to advance."

"How many you think you can pick off before they start to panic and run?"

"The two on the porch, I can hit two or three by the gate before they get behind that truck and pin the rest down."

"That give us some time to get behind something and dig in before the rest of em come pouring out."

Lily looked back through the scope. "There's a spot on the east side of the property where a group can sneak in, the other group though..." she continued to search.

"We're gonna go right through the front gate in all the mayhem. There's some farm equipment and a few other things that'll be safe to hide behind between the gate and the ranch."

She brought her eyes back up to Joel. "You sure about that? Blazing in head on?"

"We'll divide and conquer down there, you just stay put and shoot anybody that aint one of us."

"Call Tommy, tell him to get his ass up here." Lily went back to watching the enemy through the eyepiece while Joel fiddled with his walkie. She studied orange hat for a while contemplating the adjustments she would need to take for the wind this morning.

"Come on up Tommy, we got a clear view and we're outta sight."

From the walkie Tommy asked "How many?"

"We've seen seven so far."

"Alright, we're on our way. See you in ten." Tommy got his boys moving up the road.

Lily moved away from her gun again. "Here, get a good look, know the lay of the place. I see a few spots where nail bombs would be very effective, if we could get close enough."

"We nothing," Joel went back to one knee in front of the gun. "You're hanging back here with Stu."

"You'll see there are a lot of natural corridors these guys are going to come running down."

There were a few. "Yeah I see. I'll see what I can do." She stood looking down at the valley behind him as he studied the layout of the bandits hideaway. "Ellie doesn't know we're doing this and I'd prefer to keep it that way Miss Lily. I'd like to shield her from un pleasantries like this."

"It's fine."

"She's seen some things, she knows these kind of things happen, but she don't need to know I'm out killin hunters with her school teacher."

"It's fine," she repeated.

Lily could make him feel just as uncomfortable as Maria could, Joel knew that tone when a lady used it. He looked up at Lily. "I get the feeling I rub you the wrong way Miss Lily."

"You called me the plant police."

"I was just into what I was doing and you threw me off is all. I wasn't trying to be rude. I'd like for us to get along, for Ellie's sake. She's lookin forward to learning what you got to teach."

Her eyes never left the valley floor. "Hey, something is going on down there."

Joel looked back through the scope, four more men had come out of the front of the ranch. "Four guys, they're armed too. Looks like they're headed for the barn. Must be a hunting party."

Lily was calculating how long it would take for them to saddle up. "They'll be riding out before Tommy and the guys can get up here."

"Maybe."

"We can't just let them go. This has to be a clean sweep."

"I'm open to suggestions." He eyed her sidelong.

"Let's see which way they go. If they ride up this way we can take em out quietly." She nodded at the crossbow she brought along whenever she traveled around in the outside world.

He was up for a little stealth killing considering the hunters numbers. "I think we can manage a quiet little ambush if it comes to it. If they ride off someplace else, we're gonna have to track em down after we clean up the ranch."

"Then lets hope they come this way. I don't want to chase a bunch of assholes through _their_ territory."

He turned his attention back to the gun to watch the ranch. The new group of guys were disappearing into the barn one by one. "Why don't you give Tommy the heads up we got movement down there."

She freed the walkie from her left side. "Tommy, you got your ears on?"

After a moment Tommy came back. "What's up Lil?"

"Four guys just went into the barn, probably going to saddle up and ride out."

"Keep an eye out, we'll double time it up there."

"Roger that, " she looked down at Joel. "You copy that?"

"I heard him. I'm watchin." A few minutes ticked slowly by. "So how about it Miss Lily, we good?"

"Yeah, we're good." She sighed and pushed back the long bangs that had escaped her ponytail. Her eyes followed the road out of the valley and up their way. The trees were most dense between where they stood now and the half way point then they thinned out and scrub took over the rest of the slope. She searched until her eyes settled on a good place for an ambush. "They come out of the barn yet?"

"Not yet." Joel was memorizing the place below.

"I think I see a good spot not far from here. Those douche bags start coming up this road I'll cut through the woods, get behind and pick em off quietly."

Joel looked up at her. "A spot where?" She pointed and his eyes followed to the place she was pointing. "Alright I see it. They come this way I'll take the bow and go. You watch the ranch and wait for Tommy."

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?"

His brows furrowed together. "No I aint fuckin kiddin."

"Why the fuck would I send you when I know I can do this myself? I trust me way more then I trust you."

"I can get it done," he straightened his back annoyed. "You need to be here with your gun and wait for Tommy."

"Fuck that dude. If just one of those fucking cock shits gets a shot off we lose the element of surprise."

Ellie's new teacher had a dirty mouth. "I can take them out without that happening. No guns, no screaming."

"I... I don't know about that dude." She stared down at the barn.

"Miss Lily, last night you said you'd put your trust in me, now I'm askin you to prove it. They come up here I'll go, you stay with your gun."

There was always the chance the bandits would leave by a different road. "Think you can handle my bow?"

Joel relinquished his spot in front of the gun to her. He picked the crossbow up and looked it over as she watched through the scope again. "This things real nice Miss Lily, I'll bet its quiet too. It would be a pleasure to handle this."

"It's accurate."

_Like most things you do aint that right Lily?_ He looked down at the woman kneeling behind the big gun. Her ponytail hung down the middle of her back in one long braid. The radio on Joel's hip crackled and then Tommy's voice said "Don't see ya yet. Just passed a downed pine on my left."

Joel palmed his walkie. "You'll be here in about two minutes little brother."

"Hey, barn door is opening." Lily watched one guy slide the door, a guy came out on horseback. "Shit, they're coming out."

Into the walkie Joel informed "We got movement down there."

"I got two guys, nope three out in front of the barn on horseback. The fourth went back in and now he's walking out his horse. I see three guys dickin around opening the gate. Forth rider is closing the barn door. Two bums still sitting on the front porch."

"Nine guys outside of the ranch," he told Tommy.

"They're heading for the gate."

Joel looked downhill. "They coming this way?" In a moment he knew. Joel cranked his walkie down to silence and grabbed the bow and arrows. "I'm going, Tommy will be here any minute."

"Make it quick and come back alive."

"Yes Miss Lily."

As Joel disappeared into the foliage Lily lifted her walkie to her mouth. "Move your ass Tommy."

2

Joel found Lily's spot and climbed up twenty or so feet into an old pine. The road narrowed around this bend, they'd have to start rideing single file through here. Joel would start at the end and kill his way forward. He sat quietly with his back against the trunk watching the road. He heard the hunters before he saw them.

"I'm tellin ya the place is haunted," one bandit rambled. "It was Indian territory."

"You think everything was Indian territory," another scoffed.

"John Parkins said he seen the ghost of an Indian girl."

"John Parkins saw bigfoot too, last winter," the skeptic reminded and laughed.

He watched the hunters move into single file, the chatty two were up at the front. That was good, they kept on yapping about ghosts as Joel put an arrow through the head of the guy in the rear. A second later he dropped the next with a headshot still undetected by the blabbering pair up front. He shot the third guy in the neck as he turned to look back at his trail mates. He couldn't scream but he gurgled rather loudly as he fell off his horse. It was enough for the skeptic left in front to turn around. He managed a quick "Oh shit!" and reached for his gun, but it was too late. Joel let the last arrow fly and down the hunter went.

Joel got down out of the tree as quickly as he could without scraping himself all to hell. He went to the nervous horses that were trying not to step on their dead riders. He couldn't risk them running back to the ranch so he got on at the end of the line. He grabbed the last by the reigns and mounted up. He clicked at the animals out of the side of his mouth "Heeya! Go on now get up there!" He gigged his ride in the side and the horse flesh got moving up the trail faster then they had been moments ago. He pushed them ahead towards Lily, Tommy should be there by now. Joel was ready to get on with this piece of business and have done with it all.

A couple of the boys got hold of the horses Joel brought back with him. Tommy grabbed his brothers mount by the bridle. "That go alright?"

"Got all four of em, nice and quiet." He looked over at Lily. "Just like I said."

Lily was happier to see him then she let on. Not only did he take out the scumbags silently preserving their element of surprise, Ellie wasn't orphaned again _yet anyway_. "Nice work," she acknowledged.

Tommy looked over at Randy. "Alright, you take your boys and get into position. We'll give ya ten and then get into position ourselves."

"Got it, " Randy said down to Tommy and then to his team members. "Alright you heard Tommy lets go."

Joel slid off the horse as half of their posse headed down the eastern trail. "What's the situation?"

"Still got five at the gate and two out in front of the house." Tommy turned to Lily. "Go on and bend over get another look sugar."

She rolled her eyes and hunkered down for another look through the scope. "Same ol same ol you flaming asshat."

Tommy giggled and big brother shook his head. "We gonna go do this or are you gonna sit up here and get your ass handed to you by Miss Lily?"

"She can handle my ass anytime."

"I'm telling Maria," Lily sighed. There was movement in front of the ranch. "Hang on jerk off I got more coming out the front door."

"How many?" Joel stepped closer to the sniper.

Lily did a head count as a fresh group came out. "I count five."

"Maybe they're switching shifts down at the gate?" Tommy guessed.

"That would be good," Lily kept watching the hunters as the new horses were tied off behind them with her ride and Joel's. "Then those fuckers by the gate might be too tired to shoot straight."

"Aint much cover between the tree line and the ranch," Joel's eyes scanned the valley.

"There's some just beyond the gate," Tommy had looked everything over. "As soon as Randy and his men," Tommy started.

"They're going for the barn," Lily observed. "If they're another group of riders they are not going to come this way too. I gotta pick these fuckers off while I've got the shot. They got no cover between them and the barn."

"The boys aint in place Lil."

"I don't give a fuck, I need to start shooting in the next thirty seconds or we're going to have a fuckin mounties problem you dig?"

Tommy lifted his radio to his face. "Randy where you at?"

The voice came through the machine. "Almost there, eta two minutes."

"I need to kill these fuckers now Tommy," Lily insisted.

"That will screw up the plan, maybe draw some of them bastards this way."

"Deal with it," she lined up for the shot that would take out the two in the lead heading for the barn. "I'm taking the five going to the barn and I'll see how many of the gate men I can get before they get behind the truck. They stick their head out its getting blown off. Get your ass moving now."

Joel could hear it in Lily's voice she meant business. "Come on," he turned and went for his horse as the sniper fired the first shot. There was the quick steady crack of the SR as Joel got on. The others were doing the same behind him and in a moment they left Lily and Stuart behind them on the trail.

Tommy was frustrated. "God damn it Lil, always gotta go and pull these stunts!"

"She's right about taken them hunters out before they get to their horses. I hope she got em." They moved into single formation as they rounded the bend. Lily's gunfire was paced but continuous.

He freed his walkie and spoke into it. "What's going on up there Lil?"

Stuart answered for the gunner. "She got the five going for the barn, one of the guys on the porch and one of the guys by the gate. Got four pinned down behind the truck. Tires are flat, glass is gone, working on blowing its doors off now." Another shot emphasized his point.

"Can she get em?"

Lily was listening. "If they'd grow some hair on their nuts and stick their head out I could." She fired and put another hole in the truck.

"They're tucked in," Stuart mediated.

Around the bend the pines became more widely spaced, cover was thinning. Joel looked back at Tommy. "You tell Miss Lily to cover me and I'll ride down there and light those hunters up."

"Everyone in that house will see you Joel." Tommy argued.

"They gonna see us all anyway and it aint like I'm gonna stand out in the open very long."

"We'll be right behind ya," he promised his big brother. Back in the walkie he said "Lil you cover my brother, he's ridin ahead to light up them guys behind the truck."

She shot again, the door was barely hanging on. "Tell him to cut straight to the right, get behind the barn and go the long way around the house while the rest of you advance. I'll keep the front covered while you move up. Have Joel light up the back of the house, we'll flush the rest of them out."

Tommy nodded. "You get all that big brother?"

It was a good plan. Tommy and his men would be in position by the time Randy and the others arrived. "I got it." He slowed them and came to a stop where they still had good cover. He readied two bottles and tied the second to a leather string hanging from the horn of his saddle. Lily fired again and Joel heard the sound of metal giving way. He checked his lighter, all was well. "Alright, I'm going."

He watched his brother ride off. "Lil, Joel's headen. You see him yet?"

In a second she did. One of the hunters couldn't help but peek around the side of the truck at the sound of approaching hoof beats. Lily fired and took the top left of his head off. "Got another behind the truck."

Joel saw another hunter go down behind the truck. He lit the rag and gigged the horse on. He lined up his target and threw the bottle. There was a firey explosion and then screaming. A man jumped up on fire and Lily shot a hole through his chest. Another made a run for it and got a crater in the back of his head for his trouble. Joel freed El Diablo and shot the last hunter rolling in the dirt behind the truck trying to put himself out. One to the chest ended his squirming and Joel turned his horse. A measured kick got him running again this time toward the barn.

Stuart's voice came through the channel. "The four behind the truck are down."

Randy broke into the conversation. "We're coming to the end of the trees now. I can see Joel, he's riding around the barn."

"Everybody move in now," Tommy ordered. Get to cover before they come flying out of that house!" He jammed his walkie in its holder and got his men moving. "Come on now."

Lily lost sight of Joel as he went behind the house, but in a moment she saw the familiar black smoke of burning fuel. At the front of the house men started running out the front door and she started shooting. "I got one, two." More men started fleeing the house from other places. "Godamnit more coming out the side by the barn!"

"What do you see Lily?" Stuart was good and remaining calm in tense situations. He held his radio out so everyone could hear her. "I got three of them loose in the front. Four, no I think six that got out the side." Another tried the front door and she shot him down.

Tommy and his men rode through the gate seeing some of the runners for themselves. They dismounted quick and got behind the farm equipment in the yard. Randy and his boys came charging in guns blazing and the shoot out was on. Joel left his horse and ducked behind the hay bailer on the far side of the house. From his vantage point he was able to take out one of the stragglers out front with his hunting rifle. He turned his attention back toward the house. A nail bomb exploded between the house and the barn and he decided to place a few himself. He fished two out of his backpack; he chucked the first one under a window near the rear and one a little close then that. The back of the house had caught fire and Joel heard several hunters yelling about it inside.

Inside the ranch they started shooting out windows to let the building smoke out and to try and join the gunfight. Two men went to a kitchen window on the far side to sneak out and the first one was blown apart by the nail bomb. El Diablo put one in his partners neck as the guy was half out the window. He fell forward clutching his throat and landed in a bloody mess. The shooting on the far side was getting more intense.

Another rush of men came pouring out the front from the door and windows. Lily began to pick them off as Tommy's team engaged them. Joel took advantage of the mayhem to get closer to the house to try and see how many were left inside. He crept past the bodies to the haphazardly shot out dining room window. He could hear at least four panicked voices in the room. A quick look inside and he got where they were and which way they were facing. Joel went for it and plugged two of them before they could all run or duck for cover. He dropped when they began to return fire.

The sniper was busy in front of him, Stuart was watching the valley through binoculars behind her. The back bedroom of the house was ablaze and the fire was spreading. The shoot out had been going on for about seven minutes when Stu saw movement at the tree line behind the ranch. He focused in and saw three riders turning and heading back into the trees. "Trees behind the house Lily, I saw riders."

She adjusted the gun to see and took a shot at the last rider before he left her sights. "I got one, I can't see the rest. How many did you see?"

"Three, there were probably more." He activated the walkie. "We got guys in the woods behind the house, at least two of em on horses."

Tommy was in no position to do anything about that right now. He was busy trying to take out the fresh wave coming out the front door. He ducked and told Stu "Keep your eyes peeled, we can catch up to em later."

Joel was going back and forth exchanging fire with two guys inside when the nail bomb he had left near the back of the house blew. He turned around quick and aimed at the second of three that were trying to get out that window. Joel winged him and the guy fell out the window. The one in the window took a shot at Joel and he moved. Quickly he made it back behind the bailer and began shooting at the two now out in the open. Joel got the one in the window first and then the other scrambling to his feet. A hail of bullets came flying out of the dining room window turning the bailer into a musical instrument for a minute. Someone inside had busted out a machine gun.

"Stick your head out I dare you!" The hunter roared inside.

Over on Randy's side Tim took one to the chest when he stood to throw a molotov. It threw off his aim and instead of hitting the crates the enemy was hiding behind it arced left and landed in a bush not far from the front door. Randy dragged his friend out of the line of fire as he crumpled. "Hang in there Timmy, don't you fucking die on me." Randy applied pressure, but it was already too late, Tim's lungs were filling up with blood.

The new fire sparked even more panic inside. Most of the hunters left alive made a break for it out one window another. Another nail bomb explosion punctuated the escalating gunfire. Joel stayed crouched and took out two guys running toward the trees. Gun shots, smoke and the sound of screams filled the air as the sun climbed higher into the sky. The guy with the machine gun broke out the front shooting at Tommy and his men. Joel stood and shot him in the back before he got too far then moved toward the front of the house to help his brother. He got two more but not before one of them turned and got a shot off. The bullet came so close to Joel's face it scratched his cheek and knicked his ear flying by. He dove behind a stack of weathered crates for cover.

Ten minutes later the shooting had dwindled and stopped, the house became fully engulfed. The last of the bandits on the ranch were finished off as Tommy and his men circled the property. "You see anything up there Lil?" he asked as big brother came his way.

"No sign of the fuckers that skinned out on horseback," Lily answered from her post.

"Which road?"

"Directly behind the house."

"Copy that." He waved a Joel. "You wanna help me track the runners down."

Joel adjusted the pack on his back. "I'll find em."

"Ben come on, you're with us. "Tommy headed for his horse. "Let's finish this."

3

Stuart and Lily watched Tommy take two guys and ride into the trees behind the ranch. In the valley below as the house burned down their remaining men began the process of moving corpses and checking the outbuildings, particularly the barn. Keith pulled the big door open to see how many horses remained stabled. "They're searching the property now," Stuart said behind his binoculars.

Lily was trying to catch a glimpse of Tommy's party through the trees. She was hoping they wouldn't have to track the runners far and they took them out with no problems. She picked up her walkie. "Tommy you got eyes on the runners yet?"

Nearly a minute passed then "Naw still following their trail up the valley. They in these woods somewhere."

A shot rang out from behind Stuart, it was close enough to make Lily jump and turn around to look his way. Her eyes widened and he suddenly realized his shirt was wet. He looked down at the blood staining his blue flannel shirt. "Oh shit." He fell to his knees and was dead before his face hit the ground.

_Oh shit!_ The hunter behind Stu had her dead to rights. She squeezed the walkie in her hand to broadcast hoping Tommy was still close enough to hear. "Whoa, just be cool." Another guy came out of the woods behind Stu's killer.

"You the one that been up here snipeing my boys? Huh bitch? Those were my friends you killed down there."

"You just killed Stuart!"

Tommy, Joel and Ben had stopped and turned in the direction of the shot when their walkies relayed Lily's dilemma. Tommy kicked his horse to get him to run and started back around to the place he left Lil and Stu. "Come on!"

"Fuck this guy," the hunter kicked Stu's body as he closed the distance between him and the woman. "You're gonna pay for what you've done you fuckin cooze. I'm gonna fuck every hole you got and then throw you to my friends."

The second guy with a gun on her laughed. "Aint had a good piece of ass in a while."

"Throw that thing in your hand away cunt or I'll put a couple rounds in your gut and fuck you anyway. Toss it over here."

Lily resigned herself to getting shot at the very least, but probably dieing. Didn't matter, she had to try anyway. Her survival instincts were strong. She stood up slowly with her hands up. "Okay okay, here." She moved like she was going to toss it underhand, but right before she let the radio go she brought her arm back and pitched it at the guy in fronts head. The second hunter shot at her as she vaulted over the rock her rifle sat on, luckily he missed.

Miss Lily quit sending and then Joel heard the shots ahead. "Up ahead Tommy!" he freed El Diablo as he pushed his horse faster.

The bitch had split his right eyebrow open with the radio. "Oh you bitch! You fucking bitch! I'm gonna kill you!"

Lily freed the nine from her hip. The bastards shouting told her right where he was. She popped up quick. As he brought up his gun to shoot, she fired one into the shoulder on his right arm. His buddy took two or three shots at her but Lily was already back behind the rock outcropping. "You're next asshole!"

Two hunters on horseback appeared on the trail ahead, Joel opened fire and shot one off his horse. Tommy shot at the other hunter, the man dodged Tommy's first bullet but the second caught him below his left eye. He tumbled off his horse dead. "Lil!" Tommy screamed riding past the dead mounties.

The two remaining hunters that had Lily pinned down turned toward the sound of gunfire, shouting and approaching hoof beats. The wounded man made a break for the trees, Lily stood and shot him twice in the back. The last hunter turned to her to shoot, Lily swung her gun his way. Behind Tommy Joel pulled the trigger; El Diablo gave a loud crack and the last hunter staggered and fell down dead. "Lily?" he called to Ellie's teacher.

Lily came around the side of the rock. "I'm alright!" she called to the approaching riders.

The men were off their horses in a hurry. Ben rushed over to the hunters horses to keep them from running off. Tommy hurried past the bodies to get to Lil. "You alright? You shot?" He reached for her and she swatted him away with angry force.

"I said I'm fucking fine." She went to Stuart and got down on her knees beside him. Lily rolled him over and looked down into his dead eyes. "Fuck."

"Stuart was a good man," Tommy was sullen. "He was fixin to get married this summer. It's a godamn shame."

"I'm sorry about your friend," Joel offered to them both.

Her eyes went to the fucker that killed Stu, the scum that threatened her. Lily got up and went to the hunter. She kicked him over to look at his face. "This is the piece of shit that killed Stu. I want him taken down to the ranch and nailed to the barn."

"Lil," Tommy tried to sound calm.

Eyes full of hate turned on Tommy. "Not another fucking word. This cock shit is going up on the barn and nothing else is going to even think about settling here again."

Joel looked at his brother. Tommy was squirming a little and big brother couldn't blame him. If looks could kill he'd be digging Tommy's grave. Joel found Lily's orders a bit disturbing himself, but displaying conquered dead wasn't uncommon in the outside world. He re holstered his gun and picked up the binoculars Stu dropped. Joel took a look down at the ranch, he didn't want any part of what Tommy was getting.

Tommy shook his head. "It's fucked up Lil, its barbaric. We aint hunters."

Lily straightened and glared at Tommy. "Anthropologically speaking humans have been displaying trophy's of vanquished enemies since the pre dawn of our history. Heads were taken by African tribes and heads on spikes continued in civilized culture through most of the middle ages. The ancient Egyptians took the penis, indigenous Americans took the scalp. In the Bible David brings Saul the foreskins of two hundred Philistines as proof of conquest."

Joel quit looking at the valley and looked at Lily while baby brother shuddered. "You gonna be teaching that crap to Ellie?"

"Everything I just said is historical fact." She turned on Joel. "Not only will she learn the history of barbaric displays she'll be learning the psychology at work behind it. You got a problem with me teaching that to your daughter?"

It was the first time anyone had called Ellie his daughter to his face. Here in the middle of a shit storm the lady who probably wanted to knock his teeth right out of his head acknowledged he was a dad again. For a moment Joel choked, he swallowed the lump in this throat. "Well when you put it that way Miss Lily." He cleared his throat and looked over at Tommy for intervention.

"It aint us, we ain't savages," Tommy redirected her wrath his way again.

Back to Tommy. "This fucker is already dead," Lily kicked the corpse. "But with him hanging out to rot any others like him will think twice about sticking around. It is an effective deterrent and we will use us."

"You got a mean streak a mile wide woman."

"We're nailing him to the barn."

Big brother watched their cold stare down. Finally Tommy caved. "Fuck it," he sighed. "Joel, gimmie a hand gettin this bag of shit up on a horse. I'll take him down there, but I aint doing the deed."

"You hold him, I'll staple his ass in place." Lily was done with Tommy. She went back to her gun to pack it up.

Tommy shook his head at her behind her back then turned the other way. "Hey Ben, bring me up another horse!"

Ben brought one of the hunters horses forward. "What's up Tommy?"

"We're gonna take this guy down to the barn, turn him into a decoration."

"Oh," Ben glanced at Lily and then back to Tommy. "I'll give you a hand."

Joel noticed the look Ben gave Lily's backside. The three men worked together to get the dead hunter on the horse while Lily got her gear together and got it on her own ride. Lily brought over Stuart's horse and held him still while the trio put Stuart's body up over his saddle. Lily quietly secured his body for the trip home and Tommy ordered "Alright everybody lets mount up. We still got work to do."

Tommy led them back to the ranch with loose horses and those carrying the dead between them. For the next three hours the place was searched for supplies, bodies were taken care of, Lily's grisly warning went up. The hunter hung by his feet from a rope around the rafters. Lily got up on a ladder and nailed the bastards outstretched arms to the barn. The new horses were packed up with scavenged supplies for the trip home. They let the house about burned itself out and then formed a bucket brigade from the pump near the corral. By the time they doused the last of the coals the sun was in the west and it was time to get back to Jackson.

The ride home was a somber one; they all went in to board their horses, Tommy and a few of his men had to go notify some loved ones they lost their man today. He told big brother he'd stop by later to check in and went out to deliver some bad news. As Joel was leaving the stables he saw Lily shoulder her bag and head for the exit. Inevitably their paths crossed. "Miss Lily."

"Joel," she was cordial, but inside she was too tired for his southern man routine.

"Can I walk you home?"

"My house is closer then yours from here actually." She sighed. Maybe he wanted to talk about Ellie so she relented. "Yeah, fine. Come on."

She stayed two steps ahead of him until they reached the gate that opened onto the town streets. Miss Lily slowed enough for him to catch up and they walked together. "Your place is around here?"

"Two streets up, take a right."

"I told Ellie to have her homework done before I got home."

It made her smile a little. "Good."

"I think she'll do just fine learning from you. I heard a whole lot of smart fly outta your mouth today. Lotta nasty obscenities too. I don't think Ellie knows what a cock shit is and I prefer she don't."

Lily couldn't help but laugh. "Don't worry Joel, I refrain from using abusive language in front of my kids."

"You save that all up for us grunts huh?"

"I like to keep things where they belong."

"Accurate."

"Precisely," she laughed again.

He was curious. "How many kids you teaching?"

"Ellie makes three."

"You teaching that teenage boy?"

"If you mean Kyle then yes."

"He gonna be studying with Ellie?"

His inner concerned father was hanging out. "We'll be doing things together."

"Ellie is only fourteen Miss Lily," Joel reminded.

"They wont be fucking, they'll be doing math and preserving tomatoes okay?"

Joel's mouth hung open for a second and then he frowned. "I didn't presume they would be I just thought as Ellie's teacher you might keep an eye out to make sure that boy don't try and take advantage of her."

"Kyle is not a scumbag, you can relax."

"Beggin your pardon Miss Lily, but you aint never been a teenage boy."

"So now you're implying what? That I've never enjoyed sex?"

"I...I certainly did not."

"Then you're asserting your belief that the default setting for all males is rapist?"

He was getting flustered. "Where the hell you coming up with something like that?"

"You said I needed to watch Kyle to prevent him from taking advantage of Ellie because you assume that as a teenage boy he'll even stick his dick in a pie if nobody's looking."

The scene from the movie popped into the forefront of his mind. He paused in reminiscence unable to keep the smile off his face. "Okay okay, I see what you're saying. I seen that movie too."

"You _saw_ that movie."

"You this hard on your students?"

"Are you suggesting I've been hard on you Joel?"

"Wouldn't dream of it."

As they walked along Lily noticed "You look kind of scraped up there buddy."

"A little bit."

"You intend to keep the mission a secret from Ellie, but you're going to go home all bloody?"

"I'll tell her there was trouble at the plant."

"You could have cleaned yourself up at the plant. If you're going to make up a cover story at least make it a good one. You come in and I'll get you patched up, but don't expect to make a habit out of me covering for you with Ellie."

"Thank you Miss Lily and don't worry I wont."

Her house wasn't far. "How did you meet Ellie?"

_Shit_. "A friend of mine, Tess, she asked me to get Ellie someplace safe."

"How long have you been taking care of her?"

"About a year now. She's a good kid, it was easy to get attached."

Lily knew better then to pry too much at once. "She'll do well here. Her old man too from the looks of things. Nice work out there today Joel."

"You too Miss Lily." They smiled at each other. "I think I'll do alright in this town too."

5

They made pleasant conversation about Ellie's schooling as Lily patched Joel up, she even helped him with his cover story. When he arrived home Ellie was n the kitchen trying to figure out what to cook. "Ellie I'm home!"

"Good I'm starving!" She came out into the living room as Joel set his gear on the entry way table. "Hey, what happened to your ear?"

"Piece of metal came flying out of one of the turbines, ricocheting around it got me."

"You okay? Do you need a tetanus shot or something?"

"I'm fine, all patched up. Let's go see what we got to fix for dinner."

Joel used the rest of the ground meat to show Ellie how to make burgers and the potatoes he turned into baked fries. Ellie loved his cooking, but even more she loved that he was doing it for her. While they ate she asked "Did you used to make dinner like this for Sara?"

"Well I do prefer to grill my burgers but yeah, all the time."

"What was Texas like back then?"

"Big," Joel chuckled. "Lot of flat wide open spaces."

"What did you do for fun there?"

He shrugged. "The usual; tv and sports mostly."

"Like baseball?"

"Yup, like baseball."

"Did Sara like baseball?"

"She did. She was good at it too."

"Did she like Tom Gordon?"

Joel washed down a bite of burger with some cold lemony tea. "That Steven King book freakin you out Ellie?"

"It's kinda spooky, but I can totally handle it."

"What makes it spooky?"

"She's alone in the woods with something stalking her. It's kinda one of my worst fears." Ellie looked down at her plate trying not to think of David and his group of sickos.

"You don't need to be afraid Ellie, we're safe here."

"Yeah I know," she bit another french fry in half.

"I can talk to Miss Lily about assigning scary reading."

Ellie looked up at her pops wide eyed. "No! I can handle it."

"I can walk you to Miss Lily's and-"

"Oh my god double no! I don't need you to walk me to school, that would be totally embarrassing!"

Joel smiled and shook his shook his head. "You ready for your big day tomorrow? Got your homework done?"

"Yeah, I finished while you were gone today."

"Alright then I guess we can watch some more Xena tonight."

She brightened at the idea. "We better." That got him laughing and Ellie laughed too.

6

Tommy knocked on Joel's door shortly after Hades was introduced in the story. He and Tommy went to the dining room table for a drink and a quick chat. Big brother poured them each a half glass of whiskey and sat down. "Everything alright Tommy?"

Tommy knocked back a shot. "Yeah, I'm good, its just... I hate tellin somebody that someone they love is dead."

"We we're lucky we only lost two men."

"I reckon." Tommy stared down into his booze. "At least things will quiet down around here now."

"That's a good thing little brother." Joel sipped his drink.

"I know I don't have to tell you, but I don't like what Lil did with that guys body. She might have a stack of logic and psychobabble behind her reasons, but that still don't make it right."

"It's like that a lot out there Tommy. I've seen some of that shit firsthand."

Tommy nodded, he knew it too. "I reckon it is, I just hate seeing it come from Lil."

"What's the story with you and Miss Lily? Why you so infatuated with her?"

"You got eyes don't ya?" Tommy chuckled and downed another shot.

"You a married man little brother."

"Happily married," Tommy smiled. "Don't make Lil any less pretty. I've had a thing for her since way back in our firefly days. This one night a bunch of us lit out of the city, went up to this place up in the hills. We was drinkin and smokin weed and bullshit. All goofed up. Lily, she had this little car back then, it had a nice sound system in it. We was listening to music and ..." Tommy's grin grew bigger. "I saw Lil dancin in the moonlight and I fell straight in love."

Big brother was listening patiently. "Dancin huh?"

"What can I say, the woman knows how to move her body. Of course I chased after her, but she wasn't even the slightest bit interested in anything more then bein friends with me. I took the friendship though, I trusted Lil to have my back in those days more then I trusted you. Kinda a shame you two didn't meet back then, but probably for the best."

"You didn't think I'd like your firefly buddy?"

"Lil didn't like the way Marlene was running the Boston chapter. That woulda given you two something in common and the last thing I needed was you trying to get in her pants. We was already at each others throats as it was."

Joel sipped his drink slowly and swallowed. "You aint in love with her are you Tommy?"

"Naw, but I love her. She's a friend, a good one. I worry about her. The world has put a darkness inside Lil, its kinda like what you're carrying around with you like bad luggage."

"I'm fine little brother."

"What do you think of Lily?"

Joel shook his head. "She's a real piece of work aint she? Mad scientist with a gun."

"You think she's crazy?"

"Most geniuses are a little off aint they?"

"I reckon so." He swallowed more Tennessee sour mash whiskey. "So does that mean I aint gotta worry about you takin a man's interest in Lil?"

Joel frowned at his brother. "Tommy you are married and Miss Lily aint interested in you. I'm sorry boy, but you are not gonna have your cake and eat it too."

"I aint after Lily like that no more, I flirt cuz its fun gettin in trouble with Maria and them two bond over what an asshole I am."

"You aint right in the head."

"I'm as right as I can be after being with you for all them years." The brothers glared at each other across the table. "I heard you walked Lil home."

"She patched me up and I came home." His palms began to sweat a little.

"Okay then I'll just ask ya again. Am I gonna have to worry about you and Lil?"

Joel frowned at Tommy, he didn't like the hot seat. "Not that anything like that is your business."

"It's my business alright; you're my brother and she's my friend and I love you both, but if you hurt her," Tommy stared at Joel waiting for the words to come.

His little brother downed some whiskey. "I got no plans getting tangled up with your girlfriend little brother. Let me give you a little advice. Whatever is going on in that head of yours about Miss Lily, you better just knock it off. You're married Tommy and you are way to attached to a woman who aint your wife."

"You have no idea what me and Lil have been through together. She is _family_ to me not some piece of ass."

"It aint good for your marriage."

"Yeah I guess you'd know all about bad marriages huh big brother?"

"You better watch your mouth boy."

Tommy shook his head. "Lil aint a problem for me and Maria. She's our friend and I'm just lookin out for her."

"Well you don't need to look over here. I've been a gentleman to Miss Lily and I will continue to do so. She is gonna be Ellie's teacher and that's it. Even if that wasn't it, it's still none of your godamn business who that woman does friend or not."

"It is when its you."

"Why's that?"

"I have my concerns about what kind of a man you are. You and Lil together just scares me on a whole number of levels."

Joel understood why Tommy judged him so harshly, but it still stung. "I wouldn't harm a hair on Miss Lily's head. You should know that Tommy."

"I want to trust you brother," again Tommy was speechless.

He picked up the bottle and poured them each a little more. "Things have changed little brother. We're gonna live the quiet life up here now. Gonna put the past in the past and let it stay there."

"Yeah, of coarse we are." He drank some more whiskey to seal the deal.

"I don't plan on giving you nothing to worry about. I'm gonna have my hands full with Ellie going to school with some teenage boy."

Tommy tried to relax. "You take tomorrow off, start Tuesday up at the power plant. Seven to three so be at the stables by six thirty or so for a ride up. The schedule is posted up in the office so you'll know when you'll be on watch all week. We try to do three days on and one off when we can."

"That sounds fine." Joel was looking forward to working a quiet job for a while. He had been running non stop since he left Tess last year. The hunter threat had been dealt with and the foreseeable future should prove to be uneventful. Joel sipped his drink. _That sounds just fine indeed. _


	4. Chapter 4

Jackson

Chapter Four

Ellie's first day of school went well, she came home excited about Miss Lily and Kyle the brainiac and what they were learning. Joel anticipated her enthusiasm waning over the follow weeks, but Ellie stayed fired up about school with Miss Lily. Joel turned over the new garden for his girl. He came home one day to find it all planted. Miss Lily and Kyle had helped Ellie out. Ellie talked about them both a lot, she always had some glowing review of their latest thing. Joel didn't see much of Lily once he got working again, passing on the street here and there mostly. The men Joel worked the watch with were decent guys and soon enough he started making friends with his fellow townies.

Things between Joel and Tommy seemed to get better too. They made it a point to get together for a few drinks at one house or the other a few nights a week. Some nights they would sit up long after Maria or Ellie went to bed; they had a lot of years of catching up to do. Finally one night on their third drink after Maria headed off to bed, Joel told Tommy what really happened in Salt Lake. He told his brother about how Marlene and her sick friends were going to take apart his little girls brain. Tommy listened to his big brother tell the tale of escaping St Mary's with Ellie in his arms. Tommy assured his brother he had done the right thing. Joel swore Tommy to secrecy, he didn't even tell Maria.

About a week after his talk with Tommy about Salt Lake Joel arrived home and walked into the smell of cooking food. He smelled beef, onion and garlic. "Ellie, I'm home," he called out dropping his gear on the table.

"We're in here," she answered from the kitchen.

_We who_? Joel braced himself and walked into the good smells. He was please it was just Ellie and her teacher. "Miss Lily, it's nice to see you again."

She smiled at Joel. "How are you Joel?"

"Pretty good, settled right in. How's Ellie doin in school?"

"She's doing great."

"Something smells real good in here."

Ellie was quite proud of herself. "I'm making roast beef for dinner. It will be done in about an hour."

"Is Miss Lily helping you?"

"Miss Lily is grading her," Lily answered.

"A roast beef test?" Joel looked at her quizzically.

"Cooking is chemistry and physics. The organics we're working with, the temperature we maintain."

Joel chuckled at the teacher. "Well your science smells delicious. I cant wait to eat."

Ellie giggled. "You need to get cleaned up first, there's something gooey all over your shirt."

"Axel grease," he looked down at the smudge.

"Whatever, you're a mess and you smell like an engine."

"Then I'll just have to excuse myself to go get cleaned up."

The girl smiled deviously. "Go make yourself pretty." Ellie turned back to her teacher and the old book she had her reading on the table. Lily said _White Fang_ was a classic, Ellie could see why. "I'm kind of hesitant to finish the book. I'm invested in the story now and I don't want it to end."

Teacher smile. "That's why I give you a break between good books. Its hard to get into a new story when you're still living in another."

"Yeah, Ellie nodded. Lily got it, she was a reader too. "I kinda want to get a dog." Ellie smiled and Lily laughed.

2

Joel went up to his bathroom and indulged in a hot shower. He dressed and went back down into the smell of dinner almost ready. Lily was in the living room looking over the dvds on the bookshelf. "Miss Lily," he greeted.

She looked up at Joel, he wasn't in his usual flannel, but just a t shirt instead. She could see where his arm had healed where he was winged above the elbow. "How were things at the power plant?"

"It's been real quiet."

"Good. Ellie is boiling some potatoes, dinner will be ready soon."

"I'm starvin."

Lily stepped closer to Joel. "How's the ear?"

He bent a little and turned to show her. "Healed up for the most part."

She gently took his ear and felt around the nick. "You've got a notch alright. Like an old barn cat."

"It aint bothered me none, I think its alright."

"Lily should I..." Ellie stopped short and stared. As she had come out into the dining room Joel looked up at her. As he looked up Lily's hand fell from his ear to his shoulder. What Ellie saw was Joel and her teacher standing all close and touching. "Holy shit were you just kissing?!"

Joel straightened as Lily turned to Ellie. "Ellie," Joel warned.

"No, I was examining the scar tissue on his ear." Lily was patient.

"Oh," Ellie frowned suspicious and embarrassed at the same time. She looked up at her pops. "So 'check out my scars' is your pick up line? Pretty weak Joel."

"Ellie," he furrowed his brows at her, but Miss Lily laughed.

"You came in here to ask me something Ellie?" Lily saved.

She let up on Joel. "My potatoes are getting kinda frothy."

Lily started for the kitchen. "Lets go see."

Joel stood frowning as the girls went back into the kitchen. Ellie's wishful thinking was a tad flustering; Joel had smelled the hint of a sweet, flowery perfume on Lily when he leaned down for her. Another thing Joel missed from the old days was the smell of a woman. They had fancy shampoos and body sprays and lotions. His ex wife had favored strawberry and lilac.

"Go ahead and turn the heat down Ellie," Lily's voice floated from the kitchen.

He wanted a drink to drown the memories, but it would have to wait. Joel would be on his best behavior around Miss Lily no matter how good she smelled _or looks or cooks. _He shook away the thoughts and went into the kitchen for some of that lemony tea.

3

Ellie served up a delicious dinner. Joel praised her cooking and Lily assured her she passed with flying colors. They talked about the herbs Lily had everyone growing, they talked about the books Ellie had been assigned to read. They talked about the way food was before the end, Ellie found Gordon Ramsey fascinating. The adults reminisced about the old television shows they used to watch. The irony of being _The Walking Dead_ fans wasn't lost on them and Lily admitted to being a proud Whovian. She told Ellie about the doctor and the TARDIS; _call me sexy_ was one of her favorite moments in the series. As dinner came to a close Ellie proposed to Lily "Joel and I are watching more Xena after dinner. You should stay and watch an episode or two with us."

"Aint you got homework Ellie?" Joel lifted a brow at his girl's cozy offer.

"Do you have not aint you got," Lily corrected.

"I'll finish _White Fang_ in bed latter." She turned back to her teacher. "We're almost at the end of season one."

Lily had been a fan of the show. She smiled at Ellie. "Which episode did you leave off on?"

"The next episode we have to watch is called Callisto."

"Oh snap! Callisto's my bitch yo," Lily lost herself for a just second. Big daddy gave her a curious look as Ellie giggled. Lily cleared her throat. "What I mean to say is; how very exciting, Callisto is a favorite character of mine."

Ellie laughed harder. "So you'll stay and watch?"

She couldn't turn down the ladder fight goodness. Lily sighed. "Yes okay, but just one episode."

Joel looked across the table at another girl all excited about Xena and shook his head. "I'll put on some coffee for us after dinner Miss Lily."

"That would be lovely."

4

Callisto got both of the ladies on the couch quite pumped. Lily told Ellie about Lucy Lawless' career after the episode and then she insisted she had to go. The evening had taken on a chill and Joel insisted she wear one of his flannels home. At least she talked him out of walking her there. Lily just wanted to get home, smoke a bowl and put away the clean laundry sitting up on her bed.

When Lily left Ellie was all smiles. "That was fun."

"You two seemed to enjoy yourselves." With the school teacher gone Joel could have a drink so he did.

"So did you. You wanted to walk her home. Is that because you were kissing earlier?"

His girl peeked at him over the couch as he poured whiskey into a short glass. "We wasn't kissin and walkin a lady home is the polite thing to do."

"Are you sure it wasn't because you want to be alone with her? Cuz, you know, I can arrange it for you." Ellie pressed. Joel frowned and she cracked up laughing.

"You can get those wild ideas you got about me and Miss Lily right out of your head. One crazed Xena fan is enough to look after."

"Are you sure about that old man?"

Ellie didn't understand what kind of trouble Lily could be. "Oh I'm sure," he sipped his drink.

She relented for the night. Ellie knew how to pick her battles and a fun evening with Lily here was victory enough to make her happy. "Are we gonna watch another episode or what?"

"Alright, one more."

5

Joel was working his last shift before having two days off when Tommy showed up at the power plant. He made his usual rounds then had lunch with his brother. Tommy had been by Lil's place earlier to drop off some crap for Maria when he saw big brother's shirt hanging over her kitchen chair. Naturally he had jumped to the most drastic conclusion and Lily was none to happy with being accused _you fuckin my brother now?_ An argument had ensued, she threw him out and his day had been shitty since. He chewed his ham sandwich scowling at Joel.

"Who pissed in your kool-aide little brother?" Joel finally had to ask.

"You saw Lil last night."

"She had Ellie cooking dinner when I got home."

"So you had dinner together?"

Joel drank from his water bottle. "Had dinner then the girls watched some Xena."

"The girls huh? Then what happened?"

"Miss Lily went home, me and Ellie watched some more tv."

"I found your shirt at her place this morning."

_Here we go_. "I let her borrow it last night, it was chilly outside."

"Awful familiar of ya aint it?"

"It was the polite thing to do."

Tommy laughed disgusted and threw down his sandwich. "Bullshit you just wanted yer scent all over her."

It would be funny if Tommy didn't look so angry. "It was cold, that's all."

His brothers story was the same as Lil's, but Tommy knew Joel; he knew him before the world went to hell, he knew him in a time when a girl wearing your jacket meant you liked her. "Lil gave me the same story."

"It aint a story its what happened. Did you go and say something to piss her off?"

Tommy frowned at the source of his troubles. "I asked her if she was fuckin you. That didn't go over too well."

"Please tell me Ellie wasn't there when you had your idiot fit you jack hole."

"It was before the kids got there," Tommy pout.

"What the hell is wrong with you boy? I already told you I aint chasing after Miss Lily and if I recall I told you that you needed to get over her."

"Your clothes were in her place," Tommy waved a hand over his sandwich.

He sighed wondering if his idiot brother got him into trouble with Ellie's teacher. "I assume she told you why."

"Yeah she did. Then she yelled at me a lot, called me an asshole and threw me out of her place."

"You idiot." Joel picked up his own sandwich. He took a bite and chewed angrily.

"She told me you and her aint none of my business, but I think it is. Lil's already been with enough bad men, she don't need no more of that shit."

"I just love how you think I'm some kind of monster."

"I know what you are, that's why I want you to stay away from Lil."

The brothers stared each other down. "What would you do if I were to say no? What if I were to decide that I liked Lily and wanted to know her a little better?"

Tommy laughed coldly. "You don't wanna know what I'd do to protect Lil."

"Is that right?" Their relationship had advanced on many other levels, but Tommy never budged when it came to Miss Lily.

"You think a string of broken romances is gonna set a good example for Ellie?" Tommy dug.

"I never said anything like that."

"Its how you _are_ big brother. I aint never seen you content with a woman yet, not even when she gave you a child."

"That wasn't all on me," Joel snapped back.

"I aint lettin you do that to Lil. She's been through enough already she don't need you fuckin with her head."

He brought a hand up and rubbed his beard. "You got me all wrong Tommy."

"Just back off my friend Joel okay?"

_Pissy little brother_. "I will if you will."

"I already have." Tommy stood up and threw what was left of his lunch back into his paper sack. "I got shit to do." He didn't say goodbye, he just turned and stormed off.

Joel watched him go and then turned back to his lunch. Baby brother was way too protective, Joel wondered what was said between Tommy and his Lil. He hoped his brother hadn't put him in dutch with Ellie's teacher. He wondered what the hell made baby brother and Miss Lily so close. Tommy wasn't forthcoming, maybe Lily would be , or maybe Joel really didn't want to know. He sighed and let it go for now. Tommy would settle down in a few days and things would go back to normal, Joel would just ride it out.

The kick in the ass was that Joel did like Lily, he was sure they would be good friends if they made the time. Lily was great with and for Ellie and Joel could enjoy her company too. Had the woman been anyone other then Tommy's Lil, Joel might take a man's interest in her; she smelled damn good. _Tess never wore perfume_. He stared down at his lunch for a moment then began eating again. He was willing to bet Tess would like Miss Lily and vice versa. The two of them together would be way worse then any Xena episode. The thought put a smile on his face and he finished his lunch.

6

It took Tommy three days to quit being _pissy_ and drop by for a drink. Neither mentioned Miss Lily and things smoothed over. A few days after that Ellie came home from school all excited about the town's anniversary celebration, New Jackson was turning four. She repeated what Lily told her about it; there was going to be a lot of food, booze and music. Ellie was making a dress to wear to the party as another one of Lily's lessons. She assured big daddy it was tasteful.

Ellie worked hard on her dress and a sleeve to hide her "burn scar" she always kept covered up. It came out way better then she thought it would, both Lily and Kyle agreed it was beautiful. She couldn't wait to show it to Joel, when he got home Ellie came hurrying down the stairs wearing it. He dropped his gear, turned and stared at her. "Well, what do you think?"

He thought his little girl was turning into a young lady right before his eyes. "Well look at you, aint you pretty," he smiled for her. "This is the dress you've been working on?"

"Yeah its great isn't it? I mean its not to girly or anything right?"

"It's very nice Ellie."

"Lily helped me, like a lot in some places, but I'm getting pretty good at this sewing stuff."

Miss Lily's solution to boring curriculum was to do a little bit of everything all at once. It seemed to work well enough, Ellie was learning all sorts of things. "I'd say so."

"Are you looking forward to the party?"

"Are you kiddin me? All that barbeque, I can't wait."

7

The anniversary celebration brought out the whole town. A barbeque station dominated one side of the town hall lawn, a bar and beverage tables on the other. Across the street tables and chairs filled the old Catholic church, parents minded playing children on the grass. Old country music drifted out of the churches open doors and out into the summer streets. Family and friends mingled and chatted. Joel and Ellie found Tommy and Maria over by the tables lined up for the home brewed beer.

"Wow Ellie look at you," Maria beamed at the pretty girl.

"Thanks Maria."

"You want a beer big brother?" Tommy offered right away.

"I'll try one."

Tommy turned and plucked a beer from one of the many coolers. "Randy brewed this stuff." He passed it to Joel.

Joel took his beer and opened it. He sampled a sip, holding it in his mouth for a minute before swallowing. "That's pretty darn good," he chuckled pleased.

"You guys hungry?"

"I want me a big old plate of barbeque."

The brothers hit the food and each carried a heaping tray of yummy over to the church to sit and eat. They all sat and ate as a family, Ellie took special care not to get anything on her dress. Joel and Tommy both stuffed themselves and kicked back at the table with another beer. Ellie was rolling her eyes at their gross when she spotted Lily, Kyle and his dad talking in the street. "See ya," she told the old farts at the table and ran off to meet her friends.

Kyle saw Ellie coming and smiled at her. "Hey kid."

"Hey kid," she smiled back. Lily was wearing a pretty dress too just like she promised she would. "Hey Lily, hi Mr. Jacobs."

"You had," Kyle stopped, bowed dramatically at his teacher and then turned back to Ellie. "What I meant to say was; pardon me miss, have you had a candy apple yet?"

Ellie laughed at his theatrics. "Is that a challenge?"

"Indubitably."

The kids cut up laughing and daddy Jeff cleared, "Go on then and get your sugar rush."

"Thank you," Kyle bowed a little at his elders, took Ellie's hand and the two of them ran off to the candy apple stand down the street.

From his seat in the church Joel had seen the whole thing. _That boy just took Ellie's hand and Miss Lily just stood there and watched?! _He hard eyed the woman in a sundress chatting up some guy. "Oh really, what's this happy horse shit?" Joel set to draining his second beer.

Tommy looked where big brother was focused. "That's Jeff Jacobs down there with Lil. He's Kyle's dad."

"That boy just went runnin off with Ellie, holdin hands." Joel got up and left the table. Miss Lily and Jeff Jacobs were engaged in conversation as Joel crossed the church lawn with Tommy a dozen steps behind him. "Miss Lily," he called to her as he approached.

Lily turned and saw angry dad. "Oh hey Joel, this is Jeff, he's Kyle's dad."

Jeff stuck his hand out to meet Tommy's brother. He looked as mean as the rumors said he was. "Good to meet you Joel."

He shook the man's hand. "You too Jeff." Right back on Lily's case he started "Did I just see Ellie and Kyle run off holding hands while you stood here all smiles doin nothing about it?"

"Hey," Tommy jumped into the fray as Lily made _that_ face. "Hey Jeff, hey Lil, don't you look beautiful."

"My boy understands your daughter aint of age Joel," Jeff defended.

"You tellin me you raised the boy proper?" he spoke father to father.

"They're good friends nothing more." Jeff stood his ground.

Tommy slinked past Joel to Lily. "Really Lil," he tried to ease. "You look great."

Joel's back hair was already up and he turned to baby brother and his Lil. Tommy was right, Miss Lily was beautiful. "Tommy, quit humpin Miss Lily's leg for five minutes would ya? I'm trying to have a conversation here."

Tommy laughed, Jeff chuckled, but Lily glared at Joel. "Excuse me?"

"As far as I'm concerned Miss Lily, whether the hand holding is innocent or not _you_ shoulda put a stop to it."

"Uhh, what?" Lily tried to stay cool. She pointed at a couple of kids running around together joined at the flanges. "Should I stop them too?"

"You don't have to worry about my boy," Jeff was getting annoyed. "And you don't need to be talking like that to Lily, I don't care whose brother you are."

Joel straightened and faced bucky bad ass. "Is that so?"

"Boys," Tommy warned.

_Oh for the love of_... The macho posturing was going to give her a headache before she even got to drink. "Knock it off, both of you." She took Joel's hand with her right and Jeff's with her left. "See, this is not a problem."

He wanted to shake his hand loose, but Joel wasn't letting go until the other guy did. "I've never been nothing but a gentleman to you Miss Lily."

"Nor have I. I taught my boy how to be a man just fine thank you," Jeff countered.

Tommy had seen this before. "Come on boys, lets be civil."

Lily tried to let go, but neither stubborn bastard released her. "Get off of me!"

Miss Lily pulled her hand away, Joel let go but Jeff Jacobs didn't. Instead he pulled Lily right up on him and tucked her protectively behind him. "You got a problem with me or my son, that's fine I'll solve it, but you leave Lily out of this."

Joel lifted his eyebrows at Jeff and Tommy stepped between them. "Okay, ya'all are protective of your kids and Lil too I guess, but lets not let this get ugly. Let's have a beer and talk it over like grown men and woman. I didn't forget you Lil, but if you wanna go sit with Maria while I get these two rowdy dicks under control it might be helpful."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Lily stepped out from behind Jeff and away from him. She walked up to Tommy and gave him a good shove in the chest. "You get outta here!"

Tommy tried to grab Miss Lily and Joel wasn't having it. He stepped up and grabbed the schoolteacher by the waist with one arm. Joel pulled her away from Tommy. "I have had about enough of that."

Both Tommy and Jeff straightened and hard eyed Joel. "That is enough!" Lily was furious. "I am done playing pass the Lily with you fucktards." She faced Joel first and shoved him out of her way. Lily turned to Jeff and slapped him in the face then she turned on Tommy. She closed a fist and socked him in the eye. Tommy staggered back and Lily stomped off to get a beer.

There was a long moment where the guys all stood around looking at each other. Tommy blinked a few times. "Well alright then."

Joel wanted another beer too. He favored baby brother with a look of disgust then set his eyes back on Jeff Jacobs. "You just mind your boy." He turned and went after Lily. She was guzzeling a home brew when he reached for another. "Miss Lily."

Lily swallowed, caught her breath and said "If you ever put your hands on me again, unless its to save my life, you'll be wearing your balls as earrings are we clear?"

He took a long drink staring at her big dark eyes. He was pretty sure she meant it. "I want a word with you Miss Lily."

"Ellie is fine."

"This aint about Ellie, this is about Tommy." He grabbed two more cold ones and hooked an arm around hers. "Lets go over here where I can see Ellie and we can have a more private conversation."

"What did I say about the touching?" she growled as Joel pulled her to a private patch of lawn.

He let her go and set their unopened beers in the grass. "You're going to tell me about you and Tommy."

"Okay first of all, I don't take orders from you and second, Tommy and I are none of your fucking business."

"He makes me and you his, so I'm makin him and you mine."

"What...what are you talking about? Me and you?"

"Tommy told me not to get tangled up with you. I wanna know why my little brother is so dang enthralled with a woman that aint his wife."

"Are you implying that I'm fucking Tommy?"

"Are you?"

She crinkled her nose at him. "No."

"We're you, before Maria?"

"Not that its any of your fucking business, but no. Tommy and I are close because I was the one _repeatedly_ saving his life while you were busy running drugs and robbing motherfuckers."

There was venom in the woman's eyes. It was clear she loved Tommy, it was clear Tommy had talked about him to her. "I've made my share of mistakes."

"Tommy owes me a life debt seven fold. He did save me twice, I'll give him credit for that, but the score is still in my favor."

"My brother's crazy about you." Joel sipped his beer.

"No, he's crazy about you and me and the hell of Armageddon such a vicious pair of super villains would rain down on the earth. He really doesn't have a problem with me fucking anyone else."

"Like Jeff Jacobs?" he grumbled.

She put a fist on her hip and cocked her head at him. "You think I'm fucking Kyle's dad?"

"No," he frowned. "Are ya?"

"No," she snapped back and worked to drain her beer.

"Well is there somebody?" his mouth worked ahead of his brain. Joel shut up and blamed the weird beer.

"Am I fucking someone currently? No, but I do get asked out on occasion. Mostly I decline. Why do you ask?"

"I...I guess that's none of my business."

"Tommy thought I was fucking you, over a shirt."

"He was miserable for a few days," Joel concede.

Lily watched her students get their candy apple. "Make sure Ellie brushes her teeth."

"I always do Miss Lily." He watched her watching her students return to Tommy and Kyle's dad. Joel sighed. "I reckon I judged you too harshly when it came to Ellie and that boy. I'm sorry my temper got the better of me. I just worry about Ellie and its tough trusting other people with her."

They were half way there. "And all the grabby stuff?"

Joel shook his head. "Naw, I stand by that. Tommy don't need to be putting his hands on you for any reason other then to save your life," he used her words against her. "Tommy is married. As for Jeff Jacobs, the guy outta be knocked on his ass and if the kids weren't around I'd do it. He's the grabby one."  
Lily smiled at his devious logic. "You're a real piece of work." Lily could drink to that and she did.

"I can say the same thing about you Miss Lily." Joel was downwind of Lily and _damn she smells good._ The breeze pulled at the loose strands of hair that escaped the giant clip holding it all to the back of her head. He watched her sip her beer, her lips looked soft. "I can see why he got all protective, you look beautiful Miss Lily."

"Are you hitting on me Joel?"

"Just stating the facts ma'am."

"Don't call me ma'am."

"Yes Miss Lily."

She had been warned off this guy, but that just always made it all the more appealing. Tommy's big brother was forbidden territory, but Lily hated following the rules. "You got something you wanna say to me Joel?"

"I think I did." He looked at her until she smiled for him again. "Sorry I busted up your date."

"I wasn't on a date with Jeff I met him in front of the beer."

"You don't say?" he couldn't help but smile.

"You find that funny somehow?"

"No Miss Lily."

"I don't see your date," she jabbed back pointedly.

"I don't need one. I got my hands full with Ellie, you too I suppose."

"I don't need a chaperone."

Joel sipped more beer. It was good and it had been a long time since he last tasted home brew. It was every bit as delicious as the barbeque ribs or Lily's wildflower scent. "Beggin your pardon Miss Lily, but you are drinking."

"The beer you brought me bub. I suppose you're going to offer to walk me home after you get me drunk too."

"I figure I better walk you home either which way. You sure are turning a lot of heads."

The low hanging fruit was always easiest to pluck. "Which heads?" she rolled her eyes and drank more brew.

Tommy started their way and Joel sighed. "Well there ya go."

"Everybody cool?" Tommy asked Joel mostly.

"Sure thing little brother, we're just having a beer."

"You gonna hit me again Lil?"

"Maybe later. I'm going to go talk to Maria." She took her beverages and left.

Tommy watched her go. "She always was good at stirrin up a mans will to fight. You leave Jeff alone now you hear."

"As long as he keeps his boy in check I will."

"You let Lil alone too."

"I'm lookin out for the both of you."

"Look with your eyes not your damn hands."

Joel shook his head. "Can we just go enjoy the damned party?"

"Yeah alright. Let me grab Maria a fresh beer."

8

Around ten o clock Joel sent Ellie home with Maria, he had tomorrow off and was taking full advantage of the beer and food. He stuck around with Tommy and Lily not quite trusting them alone. The partying townsfolk had moved into the church and cleared a dance floor for the music playing from the pulpit. The brothers and the schoolteacher sat around a remaining table. Joel was having some of the last chicken wings off the grill, Tommy and Lily were still nursing beers. Finally Tommy put it out there, "You gonna dance with me Lil?"

"Not if you aint got rock and roll I aint you hillbilly tea tard."

"Hey now, I voted for Obama, twice."

"I didn't" Joel licked his fingers clean.

"I'm sure they got something. Don't kill each other before I get back." Tommy left dueling politics behind in favor of the cd player.

"Please don't tell me you actually voted for McCain Palin."

Tommy didn't find any rock on the table but he did find something that would take them all back a ways. He asked Steve to put it on next and went back to the table. "Got somethin comin on for you Lil. You drunk enough to sing yet?"

Lily laughed at him. "Are you?"

Steve switched the cds to the one Tommy request in and the familiar piano started. "Lil," Tommy offered her his hand.

Miss Lily took it and started singing to Tommy as they moved to the dance floor. Joel knew the song, Lady Antebellum was still country and _Need You Now_ had been one of his favorites. He watched his married brother and Ellie's teacher sing a rather romantic song to each other as Tommy turned her around the dance floor. It crossed his mind again that there was more about their past then either Tommy or Lily was letting on. Joel certainly didn't think Maria would be okay with the two of them being so damned friendly in front of half the town and Miss Lily hadn't said she was telling on Tommy for anything in the past hour. About half way through the song Tommy gave Lily a hug and Joel decided it was time to intervene.

He got up and wove his way through the other dancing couples. Joel pat his brother on the shoulder. "Mind if I cut it?"

"Actually I do."

He leaned closer to his brother to keep what he said private. "Half the town is watching you fall all over her. Back off right now Tommy." Joel straightened and guided Lily out of Tommy's arms. Little brother looked around frowning and went back to the table.

"What the hell was that?" Lily asked her new dance partner.

Joel pulled her closer and spoke in her ear. "You two look way too friendly out here in front of all these people. My brother is a married man Miss Lily it aint right for the two of you to be carrying on like that."

"You are reading way too much into it. Its an old song we used to sing back in the day."

"Maybe its time I see you home, before a scandal breaks out around you."

Lily rolled her eyes. She suspected that maybe was displacing some of his own feelings onto Tommy. "Really?" It was getting late and she didn't want to argue with Tommy's big brother. The song gave way to _Can't Take my Eyes off of You_. "I'm scandalous huh?"

"You could start a riot in that dress."

"Is it too much?"

"More like too little," he had never seen Miss Lily show off so much leg or cleavage.

"Did you check me out?"

"I got eyes in my head."

She smiled. "Is that a yes?"

Joel looked over at Tommy. Little brother was watching them dance as he sulked into his beer. "Yes Miss Lily." He smiled down at her. The song bade them _lay here beside me just hold me and don't let go_.

"There's nothing funny going on around here, but I will let you take me home. I want to be up at a decent time to water the garden."

"Alright then," Joel turned Miss Lily to the music. "Right after this song."

9

Tommy wasn't happy the couple was leaving, but big brother told him "Go home to your wife," and whisked Lil off into the night.

"See, you didn't have to worry about Kyle."

"I was worried about his daddy too."

"And again everything was fine."

He saw her shiver and immediately removed his jacket. "Here Miss Lily put this on."

Lily didn't argue, she slipped her arms into warm sleeves. "Thank you."

"I think its a good idea I keep an eye on you, especially around Tommy."

"Tommy and I never have and never will. I don't see him that way. He's more like a pervert brother or something."

"Pervert brother huh?"

"Look Joel, I met Tommy at a time in my life when I was working through some things and a good friend like Tommy was exactly what I needed. I took care of him too, he used to camp out with me when he didn't want to go home to you."

He nodded, Joel could understand partners. "I'm just worried his carrying on like a love sick fool with you is going to cause him trouble with Maria."

Lily kept walking, her house wasn't far now. "Maria knows we are not like that."

"I bet it would still sting if she saw you and Tommy dancein like that no matter what you've told her about the two of you."

"Really?" she grumbled feeling scolded.

"Got my attention."

"Maybe you're just jealous of the attention your brother gives me."

"He shouldn't be giving you _that_ kind of attention Miss Lily."

She sighed too tired to deal with Joel's morality issues and Lily was quickly losing her buzz. "I'm sure your right."

"You don't need to patronize me."

"Right back at ya asshole." Lily picked up the pace and left Joel two steps behind.

_Godamnit_. "Now wait just a minute Miss Lily."

"Get off my case already Joel. I said nothing is going on and nothing is."

"It just looks bad is all."

"But dancing with you is fine?"

"I aint the one married to Maria."

She shook her head and kept walking. "I think you should spend some more time with Tommy and Maria, get to know them better."

"I know my brother."

"Not half as well as you think. That's why you're hating on me; I _do_ know Tommy."

"I'm not hating on you," he scoffed.

Lily stopped on the sidewalk and looked up at Tommy's big brother. "Are you going to try and tell me that there isn't tension here? It's been here since day one."

"We got off on the wrong foot maybe, but what's between us aint got nothing to do with Tommy."

"What's between us?"

"I just mean that you're Ellie's teacher and all."

"I thought me teaching Ellie wasn't a problem."

"Its not," Joel sighed frustrated. "Can we please just stop."

She shifted her feet. "Fine," Lily started for home again It wasn't about Tommy and it wasn't about Ellie. Joel and Lily's problem was about Joel and Lily. He followed her down her walk to her door. Lily shrugged off his coat and handed it back to him "Here."

As he took his coat he could see in the lamplight she looked pissed. "Please Miss Lily, don't be angry with me and please don't be thinking I don't like you any. I'm actually quite fond of you."

Perhaps Joel was upset about the attention Tommy paid her for other reasons. "How fond?"

"I reckon I like you a lot Miss Lily."

"Do you want to have sex with me?" she guessed that was it.

Joel blinked at her. "Is that a rhetorical question or an invitation?"

"Invitation?" she laughed. "Aren't you bold."

"You're the one asking if I wanna go to bed."

"That's not what I said."

He had to laugh. "You just asked if I want to have sex with you."

"Because I want to know not because I want to fuck. You misinterpreted my words and totally deflected the question."

"Of coarse I did," he laughed again. Miss Lily was all smarts, but this was the first time he had seen miss tough as nails look a little flustered. He pushed his luck and stepped closer to Lily. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"I reckon the sex between us would be pretty good."

"We are both fairly athletic." She smiled as a big grin spread across Joel's face. "So maybe the fuckable factor is what causes us to rub each other the wrong way?"

He lifted his brows. "Fuckable factor?"

Lily got closer to the forbidden one, the rebel in her cheered her on. "I've got eyes too."

"You check me out Miss Lily?"

"Naturally."

"And you find me fuckable as you so eloquently put it?"

She shrugged her shoulders indecisively. "I'd have to kiss you to decide something like that."

"I'm right here," he offered. "I mean, you wanna know right?"

"Shut up and kiss me Joel."

He didn't need to be asked twice, in a flash Lily was in his arms. He pulled her close to him and kissed her. Lily was soft and warm and the wildflowers in her hair were driving him crazy. He wanted to take her hair down, kiss her everywhere, taste the perfume on her skin. Lily held him tighter pushing her ample bosom into his chest, their kiss became more heated.

They came up for air and Joel went after her neck. "We shouldn't be doing this here right under my porch light where all of my neighbors can see. Let's move this inside."

"You inviting me in Miss Lily?"

"I'm inviting you to bed with me."

"Yeah we should probably do that inside." He let Lily go long enough for her to unlock the door and close it behind them and then Joel was kissing her again. He put Tommy and all the fuss of the townie party out of his head and followed Lily up to bed.

Their lovemaking had been energetic to say the least. When it was over Lily got up and slipped on a little pink robe. She went to her vanity and rolled a joint. She lit up and brought it back to bed with her. Joel lay back on his stack of pillows with a contented smile on his face. Lily hit the joint and crawled back into bed. "Look at you," she exhaled and offered him the smoke.

Joel took a hit, it had been a long time since he had smoked any weed. "Look at me? Naw look at you. You're beautiful."

She took the joint back and rolled her eyes. "You don't have to flatter me into bed Joel, we're in it."

"I think you should come spend some time with me and Ellie, I'd like to see a lot more of you Lily."

"Is that how you want this to go?"

"You were expecting wham bam thank you ma'am?"

"No I... I wasn't really expecting this at all."

He sat up behind Lily. "We're good together Lily, with Ellie, with each other. I think there's enough here to give us a chance."

"You do?"

"Sure I do." He took her face in his hands and kissed Lily again. "You feel that too. Spend some time with me and Ellie, Lily please."

"Alright Joel. I'll let you have it your way, for now."

10

Ellie had gone to bed at a reasonable hour and got up at her usual eight o clock on Sunday. There was no sign of Joel downstairs so she went to his room to check on him. He probably had a hangover and slept in. _Too bad I'm hungry_. Joel was not in his room. "What the hell Joel?"

Figuring he was sleeping off a drunk on Uncle Tommy's couch Ellie headed up the street in her pajamas and slippers. Joel wasn't there either. Uncle Tommy was in a hangover coma, but Maria told Ellie that last night Tommy said Joel walked Lily home. Now she was super suspicious as well as kind of annoyed and hungry. She was determine to get to the bottom of her missing parental unit and walked all the way down to Lily's house.

Lily was outside watering her vegetable garden when Ellie came through the gate. "Lily?"

She turned to Ellie stunned silent for a moment. "What...is it Ellie?"

"Are you hungover too?"

"I was up late."

"Is Joel here?"

"Yes he is. He was in pretty rough shape when we got here so I made him lay down in the guest room and he passed right out."

Ellie shook her head and sighed. "Is he up yet?"

_Crap_. "Let's go get some juice and see what's up." She set the hose down and led Ellie into the kitchen. She took out two glasses and set them on the table, then went for the juice in the fridge.

Joel didn't hear Ellie come in. He was only half dressed as he headed for the coffee in the kitchen. "Lily you shoulda woke me up. I gotta get home before Ellie-."

"Before Ellie what?" the teen at the table questioned sharply as Joel came in. It dawned on her that Joel had his shirt in his hand and his socks hanging out of his back pocket. She looked into Joel's face wide eyed, he was defiantly surprised to see her here. "Wait a minute," she looked from Joel to Lily and back again. "You guys totally had sex didn't you?"

"Ellie," Joel tried.

Lily found it funny. "Totally."

"You were going to lie to me about it too weren't ya? Spare room my ass."

"It aint nothin you need to concern yourself with," Joel pulled his t shirt on over his head.

"You didn't come home, didn't leave a note or nothing," Ellie chastise.

He straighten himself up. "Sorry about that Ellie."

"Pffft, had me worried for nothing." She tried to look annoyed but inside she was thrilled.

Lily got another glass and poured everyone juice. "Fuck it I'm making pancakes."

They had breakfast together like a family and then he needed to get home to shower and Ellie had to get dressed. Joel sent her out the door first and turned to Lily. "How about you make the time to come visit with me and Ellie later? I got three days on at the plant after today, but it still do me good to see your smiling face once on a while." She smiled at him and he kissed her.

"I'll drop by this evening."

"I'm lookin forward to it already." He kissed her goodbye and went out to walk home with Ellie.

She looked up at Joel. "You guys were kissing in there weren't you?"

"That aint your business Ellie."

"Uh duh, of course its my business. What if you and Lily end up shacking up?"

"I think you're gettin ahead of yourself girlie."

"Well you guys are together right?"

He sighed trying not to think about last night. ""We're gonna try it on and see how it fits."

"Yeah I'll bet you are," Ellie rolled her eyes in feign disgust, but she was happy. Joel and Lily were a good match, for them and for her.

"Let's just get you home, walking the streets in your jammies aint right."

Ellie laughed quietly and walked home with her pops. Lily came by after dinner and watched some Xena with them. Ellie went up to bed at her usual time; Lily didn't leave until the girl had been asleep for hours.


	5. Chapter 5

Jackson

Chapter Five

Sunday had been a real pisser for Tommy. He had a headache most of the day and felt like he was going to hurl all morning. Maria waited until dinner time to even tell him Ellie had come by in the morning looking for Joel. Tommy had been drunk, but he remembered big brother cutting in on his dance. He remembered that Joel walked Lil home. His hangover subdued his fury and he let it go for the night. In the morning he had some official duties to take care of, but a little before noon he headed up to the plant to have lunch with big brother.

They retreated to a private office reminiscing about the good beer they had on Saturday. It was an easy segway for Tommy. "You see Lil home alright?"

Joel looked up at Tommy chewing his pickle. "Yes I did."

"Ellie showed up at my place lookin for you Sunday morning. You spent the night at Lil's didn't you?"

"I was invited Tommy."

_I bet you were_. "Did you sleep with her?"

"I really don't see how its your business."

The smug look on his big brothers face was all the answer Tommy needed. "You son of a bitch. I asked you one thing, one fucking thing Joel; leave my friend alone. You tell me you're gonna then you go and stick your dick in her."

"Step off boy, it aint your business and you have a wife!"

"You can just leave Maria out of this. It aint about her its about you. I don't know what you think you're doing with Lil, but I'm puttin a stop to it right now. You need to back the hell off and I mean now."

He had expected Tommy to get pissed when he figured it out. "Lily and I like each other Tommy, you're just gonna have to get over it like I _been_ tellin you."

Tommy shook his head. "No, not you. Anyone else in this godamn town, but not you!"

"It aint your choice."

"It is when I say it is."

"You need to let Lily go."

"So she can go runnin to you? I don't think so."

"It aint your choice," big brother repeated.

No, it wasn't his choice, but in this case Tommy was sure his friend was making a very bad, very under informed choice. He knew just how to remedy that. "You just couldn't leave her alone could ya?"

"I didn't do it to spite you little brother. Me and Lily got something between us, there's chemistry at work."

"I didn't ask to hear about the fuck she threw ya," he snarled.

"I'm trying to say things just happened when we got to know each other a little bit better. I didn't go after her to piss you off. I aim to treat Lily right, you got nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, well we just see about that." Tommy got up and walked out. He had things to do.

Joel sighed and drank some of his tea. Little brother was bent now, but he'd get over it eventually. Joel was sure that given enough time he and Lily would have something great, Tommy would see that and see what an asshole he was being. In a few weeks it would all be water under the bridge. He finished his lunch and went back to work not worrying about Tommy.

2

He bide his time at the town hall waiting for Lil's kids to leave for the day. When he was pretty sure they were gone Tommy head over to Lil's. He knocked on her back door, she was in the kitchen figuring out what she wanted for dinner. She opened the door for him. "Lil, I gotta talk to you."

"Is this about Joel?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to yell at me?"

"No, not this time Lil." He stepped past her into the kitchen. "Why don't you go ahead and bust out the booze. I got something I need to tell you."

Tommy didn't look half as angry as he looked miserable. "What the hell is going on Tommy?" He went to the table and sat down. Lily closed the door and went to the cupboard to get him some booze. _Something is wrong , really wrong. _"Is Joel alright?"

"He aint dead if that's what you're frettin." Tommy waited as she poured him a short glass of whiskey. He picked it up and downed half of it right off.

"Then why do you look like he just died? Jesus Tommy what is it?"

"Sit down Lil." She took the seat beside him at the little round table. "I heard about you and Joel."

"There's nothing wrong with it." She poured a drink for herself.

"My brother is a dangerous man."

Lily poured a drink. "We're all a little dangerous aren't we?"

"Some of us more then others." He sipped again and studied Lily's face in the afternoon sunlight filling the kitchen.

"You got something to say, say it."

"Alright Lil, we'll do it your way. They're lieing to you, my brother and Ellie."

"What does Ellie have to lie about?"

It was time to burst the bubble, to share Joel's secret with another. "Ellie is infected and she's immune."

"What? What kind of horse shit-"

"It aint a burn scar she's covering up on her arm, its the spot where she got bit."

"I don't believe you."

"Last year, he and Ellie came through here looking for the fireflies. See back in Boston Marlene hired Joel and his woman Tess to smuggle Ellie out of the city. They were supposed to meet up with some of Marlene's buddies and they was all gonna skin out to Salt Lake City, but when they got to the rendezvous point the fireflies that were supposed to take Ellie were all dead. Tess got bit on the way there, she laid down her life so Joel and Ellie could get away."

There was a huge lump in Lily's throat now. "How do you... even know that?"

"Joel told me, and that aint all of it either Lil"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" she picked up her glass and downed a shot.

"My brother brought Ellie here thinkin I'd take her to Marlene, but the two of em went off together before they even stepped foot in town. He took em all the way to Salt Lake City only to find out Marlene's firefly doctors were gonna cut up Ellie's brain and study it. They had her under when Joel saved her. He killed a lot of fireflies gettin to her. He killed Marlene too."

"No way Tommy..." she knew he was telling the truth, Lily could tell when Tommy was lieing. He finished his glass and poured himself another as she stared at him.

"Joel thinks he mighta killed anybody that might come after Ellie. They're here 'cause its a quiet place to be; remote and hard to find."

"Ellie...is infected?"

"She got bit back in Boston over a year ago."

"That's just not possible."

Tommy lifted his glass. "Ellie is immune."

The faces of fireflies she knew in Boston seemed to bloom and fade in her minds eye, she remembered Marlene. "If Ellie is immune then she is the key to finding a vaccine."

"That's what the fireflies thought, now they're all dead at my own brother's hands. He lied to Ellie, told her she was one of dozens of immune and they had given up looking for a cure. He told her what to keep quiet about and she has."

"Tommy..." she let the weight of it all sink in. "No, not Ellie, not..."

"I can't let you do this Lil. You need to quit my brother. He aint good for you."

Lily picked up her drink and downed another shot, she let it burn its way down. "He killed Marlene are you fucking serious?" she hung her head and resisted the urge to cry. She might not have agreed with some of the ways Marlene did things, but she was a good leader and a friend. _I'm fucking the guy that killed her? How can that even be?_

"He shot her down."

"Fucking Marlene?" she looked up at him.

"Fuckin Marlene," he sighed and sipped some booze.

She shook her head, trying to process it all at once. "How long have you known Tommy?"

"He told me about Salt Lake just a little while ago."

"What about Ellie? Have you known she's...infected this whole time?"

"I tried to warn you away from them Lil I tried! But you don't listen to me, you don't listen to Maria and you go and cozy right on up to em! You fucked the guy that killed our friend Lil!"

"Stop it!" Lily shrieked getting to her feet. Her heart was racing, her stomach was a tight little ball.

Tommy took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "I didn't want to have to tell you this. I was hoping you'd never have to know. I'm telling ya now 'cause you need to know just who you're sleeping next to. I love my brother I do, but he is a liar and he is a killer and I am damn worried about you Lil."

"He wouldn't," she started and stopped. Lily couldn't know what Joel would or wouldn't do now, especially if he was protecting Ellie.

"You need to quit my brother," Tommy finished his drink and got up. His business here was finished and Lil needed some time to think. "Maria is makin dinner, you wanna come eat with us?"

"No."

"You gonna be alright Lil? I can hang out if you need me."

"Go home Tommy."

He pushed his chair in. "Alright." He backed off to give Lily her space. "I'm gonna have Maria come by tomorrow and check on ya."

"I'll see her then." She turned away from Tommy, she didn't want to see him go. She wanted to hit him and tell him what a jerk he was and cry on his shoulder. Lily couldn't do that this time, Joel was his brother and Tommy tried to stop her. Lily was going to have to deal with this all on her own.

Lily paced in her kitchen for a while. She thought about her killer boyfriend and his girl. She thought about what Ellie's immunity meant to science, she thought about the dead. Finally Lily went out; she had to talk to Ellie, she had to see for herself.

3

Joel was in the kitchen mixing noodles and sauce so Ellie went to the door. "Hey Lily," she saw the weird look on her teacher's face. Something was wrong. Ellie stepped back as Lily came in. "What is it?"

"Ellie," the words seemed to die on her lips. "Let me see your arm."

"My arm?" Ellie backed up another step.

"Your burn scar, let me see it."

"But... its really bad."

She stayed as calm as she could. "Let me see the scar on your arm now Ellie."

Joel had heard Lily's voice so he came out into the dining room just in time to hear her ask. Joel felt cold fingers run down his spine. "Ellie?" The girls looked at him, Ellie looked afraid, Lily looked upset. "What's going on?"

"Tommy told me Ellie is infected."

"It's not like that, I can explained!" Ellie panicked.

His heart fell into his stomach. "Tommy did what?"

"I'm not infected I'm immune," Ellie was on the verge of tears. She was sure Lily didn't like her anymore. "I'm immune, lots of people are immune, right Joel?"

"Ellie, get on up to your room. I need to talk to Lily."

The adults were staring each other down. Ellie backpedaled toward the stairs. "Lily," her teacher looked at her. "Please don't hate me."

"I don't Ellie." Her student nodded and ran upstairs with tears in her eyes. Lily heard the door slam and went to meet Joel in the living room.

"Tommy told you about Ellie?" Joel rubbed his chin through his beard.

"He told me a lot more then that. He told me you killed Marlene."

Joel stepped up to her and made his case. "I didn't have a choice. I was protecting Ellie. They were gonna kill her, cut up her brain and study it."

Reality was horrific sometimes. "What makes her immune isn't in her brain it's in her blood."

"Well that aint the way your little firefly buddies were playing it."

"How many of them did you kill Joel? How many of my friends did you fucking kill?" She couldn't help it, she couldn't hold back anymore. She shoved Joel away as hot tears sprang into her eyes.

"I did what I had to do to keep Ellie alive, same godamn thing I've been doing since we left Boston."

"Marlene?"

"She would have come lookin for Ellie. I _had to_ Lily."

For a long time she just stared at him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I brought Ellie here to start a new life. That's the past."

"She is immune to a plague that has killed _billions_ of people Joel. You don't just put something like that in the past!"

"What would you have me do Lily? Give her to somebody else to dissect?"

"I don't know what kind of quacks Marlene was working with, but they were going about it all wrong."

"No shit," he was scared to lose Lily and ready to punch Tommy in the face. "Look Lily, I would have told you about all this when the time was right."

Lily shook her head. "Which story would you have given me? The bullshit one you gave Ellie?"

He had tried not to think about it. "I woulda told you the truth."

"When?"

It was time to sack up and tell the truth. "When I knew you loved me and Ellie and you wanted to be with us."

Her heart was breaking. "You mean when you had me trapped."

"I don't want to trap you Lily, I want to love you."

A hysterical laugh bubbled out. "Love? What the fuck do you know about love?"

"I love Ellie. I love Tommy too even though I wanna beat the shit outta him right about now. He came to see me today, told me to back off, told me he was puttin a stop to you and me. I guess this is what he meant."

"Don't you blame Tommy for this. The only thing he did wrong was not tell me this shit sooner!"

"He had no business telling you anything!" Joel argued back.

"I've been tutoring Ellie for months, I _fucked_ _you_!" Lily felt the first tremble of rage. "Ellie being immune doesn't make her any less contagious you ignorant fucking hick!"

His sweetheart looked at him with murder in her eyes, Lily was shaking. "Ellie aint dangerous."

"I should shoot you, I should just fucking shoot you!" She squeezed her eyes shut to bring herself under control. The sight of him was enough to make her want to hit him.

Joel saw the tears roll down Lily's cheeks. _Godamnit_. "Lily." He went to her and tried to take her in his arms. Lily pushed away from him violently.

"Don't touch me! Don't you fucking touch me!"

Things were going from bad to worse fast. "You're pissed, I get it, but lets just calm down and talk about this Lily."

"If you put your hands on me again I _will_ kill you. This," she pointed at the two of them in quick succession. "It's over."

"Come on Lily you don't mean that."

"I do mean it Joel. Fuck you, you fucking asshole!"

A break up was only half the problem. As Lily turned to go Joel hurried to get between her and the door. "Wait a minute Lily I aint done with you yet."

"Get the fuck out of my way Joel. I will tear your head off."

"What are you gonna do now that you know about Ellie?"

"Are you going to kill me too?"

"I don't wanna do that." He stared into Lily's eyes seeing the hurt there. It made him hate himself a little more. "I reckon Tommy dropped by on you right after Ellie left for the day. You've had some time to think about things and you've got a mighty clever brain Lily. I'll ask you again, what are you gonna do?"

It was frustrating to even consider Joel was thinking more clearly then she was right now. "I'm going to take samples of Ellie's blood to a doctor I know back east. Richard is still working on a vaccine."

His heart leapt into his throat at the idea of Lily striking out alone to head cross country. "Back east where?"

"Fuck you."

"Where?"

"New York, the lakes region."

"Like hell you're going all the way there."

"You have no fucking say in what I do."

Joel stepped closer to Lily. "It's up to me what goes on with Ellie and I sure as hell aint lettin her give you blood so you can run off on some damn fools errand and get yourself killed!"

"You unbelievably selfish bastard! I'm talking about the cure for mankind!"

"You're talking about committin suicide!"

"I can take care of myself!"

"I aint lettin you go out there Lily!"

"It isn't up to you. If you wont let me take samples to Richard I'll go get him and bring him here."

"No," Joel stood his ground. "Aint nobody pokin and proddin Ellie no more."

The rage was dissipating leaving Lily feeling queasy. "You cant decide that."

"She is a fifteen year old girl and I'm responsible for her and I _did_ decide that."

She couldn't believe it, Lily shook her head in disbelief. "You know, you're exactly the person Tommy said you were."

"I am protecting Ellie and I am _trying_ to protect you too Lily."

"Get out of my way Joel."

The broken couple stared at each other for a long moment. Finally Joel stepped back, sighing he opened the door for Lily. She went out without another word, he watched her go down the drive and onto the sidewalk. Lily didn't look back, Joel hung his head and closed the door. When he turned around again Ellie was half way down the stairs staring at him. There were tear tracks down her puffy, red cheeks. "Ellie?" his heart broke all over again.

Ellie had heard everything, the vent in her room carried their argument right up to her. "Is it true? Did you kill Marlene?"

_Shit_. "I did what I had to do Ellie."

"Lieing to me is what you had to do?"

"They were going to kill you. I wasn't going to let it happen. I wasn't going to lose you too."

"There are no other immune people are there?"

"I don't know."

She understood how he felt about her, about Sara. It made her cry more. "Please don't kill Lily."

"Ellie," he moved to the bottom of the stairs and reached a hand out to her. "I aint gonna hurt Lily." She took his hand and he led her down to the couch.

"You guys totally broke up," she sniffled as they sat down together. "Lily hates us now and its all my fault."

"Aint nothin your fault Ellie. Lily don't hate nobody she's just mad. We'll give her a couple of days to cool off, I'll go talk to her my next day off and smooth things over."

"Is she right about my blood? I'll give her some blood if she wants."

"No you wont. You do that and she's gonna light on outta here for parts east. Lily needs to keep her ass right here."

Ellie didn't want Lily going anywhere. "But if she knows someone still looking for a cure..."

"We're done with that Ellie and that's my final word."

In a way she was grateful. She was happy here with Joel, alive and happy. She wiped the tears off her face. "I bet you're pretty mad at Uncle Tommy."

Joel chuckled. His little girl had no idea. Joel's brother had betrayed his trust to try and bust up what he had going with Lily. "He's at the top of my shit list alright."

"Are you gonna...kick his ass?"

"I don't know about that, but I aim to give him a mighty stern talking too."

"Why is Uncle Tommy trying to sabotage you and Lily?"

He let out a tired sigh. "I reckon he thinks I might be bad for her."

"But you're not are you?"

"Trying not to be."

"Do you love her?"

"It's a little soon for all of that Ellie."

"Think she'll take you back?"

"I'll just crawl on over there on my hands and knees and kiss her feet and beg her forgiveness. That what you wanna hear?"

It sounded like a trick question. "Do you think it will work?"

_I shoulda let Lily shoot me_. "Don't you worry about it. Lily just needs some time. Now you get yourself together and come eat. Your dinner is getting cold."

"Okay." She watched him go back into the kitchen. She was heartsick over Marlene and worried about Lily. Part of her hoped Joel would punch Uncle Tommy in the nose. "It's gonna be okay," she soother herself. Ellie got up to go have dinner with her dad.

3

Joel spent the evening talking to and reassuring Ellie. He told her he wanted her to take a few days off from school, he wanted them both out of Lily's crosshairs for a while. The girl protest, but Joel put his foot down and kept it there. Ellie was sleeping in when he left for the plant. She heard Joel leave and then drifted back down into sleep for a while. By eight Ellie was up, by nine she was walking to Lily's with finished homework in her backpack.

When she arrived Ellie saw the garage door open, the truck inside had its hood up and Lily was doing something under there. "Uh, hello? Lily?"

Lily looked up at Ellie surprised to see her. "Ellie?"

"Is it still okay for me to come here?"

"Of course it is." Lily set the socket wrench down and went to Ellie in the short drive.

"I...I don't want you to be mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you Ellie."

She reached down and untied the bandana covering her bite scar. Ellie offered her arm to her teacher. "Its over a year old."

She looked from the infectious bite scar to the poor kid bearing it. "Oh Ellie," Lily hugged her hard.

Ellie felt like crying again. "Is it true my blood has the cure in it?"

Lily let Ellie go and looked her in the eye. "I think so."

"You really know someone that could find the cure using my blood?"

"If anyone can do it Richard can."

"But he's all the way in New York, right?"

Lily suddenly realized "You heard me fighting with Joel?"

"I wasn't trying to eavesdrop I just," Ellie sighed and covered her scar again. "You guys got kinda loud."

"I'm sorry that you heard that."

"He was protecting me," Ellie dropped her eyes. "I understand that. I'm still alive because of what he did, I'm safe because of him. If it weren't for Joel my brain would be in a Petri dish somewhere."

"He did the right thing for you Ellie."

"I can forgive him, can't you?"

Lily shook her head. "It's not the same."

"Marlene was my friend too. She knew my mom." Ellie looked up at her teacher.

"Forget about it Ellie, please. I'm done with Joel."

She didn't want to push, Joel said Lily needed some time. "So what about that doctor?"

"I'll go get Richard and his equipment and bring him back here."

It was what Joel had warned Ellie about. "You can't leave Lily!"

"I'll be gone a couple of weeks tops. I'll leave you with work to do."

"No, you can't go out there!"

"My truck is running fine."

"It doesn't matter. The hunters will kill you! They'll..." Ellie couldn't spit it out.

Lily put a hand on Ellie's shoulder. "Calm down Ellie, you don't have anything to worry about. The outside world is my world. This town here, its just fluff."

_I have to tell Joel. _"When are you leaving?"

"In the morning."

"You shouldn't do it, please don't do it Lily."

"I have to. Trust me Ellie, it will be alright."

Ellie felt responsible for sending another friend to slaughter. She turned away from Lily and started running. She heard Lily call after her, but Ellie didn't stop. She ran all the way back to Uncle Tommy's, he wasn't there but Maria was. The girl told Maria everything; the fight the adults had last night, Lily getting ready to leave town.

Maria and Tommy had talked about his big brother and the girl last night. Maria got pissed hearing Lily was ready to run. She went for her radio. "Tommy you got your ears on?"

Tommy freed his walkie for a chat with the wife. "What you need babe?"

"Get your godamn ass home now!"

4

Tommy hurried home, Ellie was waiting in the living room with Maria. The girl repeated everything for Tommy. "Godamnit," he grumbled.

"Why did you tell her Uncle Tommy? Why couldn't you just wait and let Joel do it?"

"Whose to say he woulda?" Tommy was defensive, both ladies looked pissed at him.

"Joel did. He said he would have told her when he was sure she loved us."

His eyebrow twitched. "You're too young to understand some things Ellie."

"Fuck that! I'm not just some stupid kid."

"I didn't say you were. I'm saying grown up relationships is complicated that's all."

Maria pointed at her husband. "You need to fix this Tommy. If Lily leaves she might not make it back again and we cannot afford to lose her."

"I aint lettin Lil go nowhere." Tommy got up. "Alright, I'll go talk some sense into her head."

"I'm going with you," Ellie stood too.

"Ellie," Tommy nearly groaned. "You just sit tight."

"She's leaving because of me. I'm not going to sit here and do nothing."

He wasn't going to win this battle. "Fine, lets go."

5

Lily had pulled the snap on cover off the back of the truck, pieces of chain link fence lay behind it in the drive. "Lil?" Tommy called to the woman rooting through the toolbox in the back of the truck.

Lily looked up and saw Tommy and Ellie. _Oh christ here we go_. "What's up Tommy?"

Tommy went to the truck and rested an arm on back quarter panel. "I hear you think you're takin a ride."

"I'm going to go get Richard."

"I can't let you do that Lil."

"I don't need your permission Tommy."

"It wont do you any good. My brother already said no doctors."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "We can get him to change his mind once Richard is here."

"It aint gonna happen Lil."

Ellie spoke up. "What would this Richard guy do to me?"

"Take blood samples." Lily stood and wiped her hands off on her shorts.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Then take me with you."

"It isn't safe Ellie."

Tommy cut in "Joel aint lettin you go nowhere."

"Joel can just fucking come with us," Ellie argued back.

"No, no no no," Lily hopped out of the back of the truck.

"Why not? It's what makes the most sense. We'll go to New York and your guy can do his tests and we'll come back with a vaccine."

"No Ellie," Lily tried to calm the girl.

"You can't tell me no. It's my blood he needs and I'm telling you the only way he's getting it is if you take me to him."

Tommy almost laughed. "Joel aint gonna go for that."

Ellie stared down her teacher. "I mean it Lily. If you just leave us, I swear I wont be here when you get back."

Her student was smart, Ellie had the upper hand. "Ellie this is important."

"Yeah it is."

Traveling across country with Joel and Ellie wasn't what Lily had in mind. "Tommy is right, Joel would never agree to it."

"I'm not giving either of you a choice," Ellie frowned at the adults.

"We'll just see about this happy horse shit." Tommy had enough. He whipped out his walkie and changed channels to contact the plant. "Somebody got their ears on over there?"

"That you Tommy?" Ned came back.

"Yup, hey Ned can you get my brother on the line for me. I need a word with him."

"Tommy," Lily warned.

A minute later big brothers voice came over the air. "What do you want Tommy?" Joel was short with him.

"I thought you'd wanna know your girls is fixin to pack up and head to New York. I'm over to Lil's right now. She's gettin her truck ready and Ellie is threatening to run away if she leaves here in the morning."

_Godamnit_. "You just sit on them two. I'm on my way." He dropped the mic and got his ass moving.

Lily glared at Tommy. "You're an asshole."

Tommy shrugged. "Oh well."

"I do not want that fucker here."

"That's too bad Lil. You girls aint gettin away with this bullshit."

"I've said everything I have to say." Ellie crossed her arms in defiance.

Lily started for the house. She was going to send Kyle home. He didn't need to be here for what was to come. _Damnit Tommy you ass._

6

Joel got back to town and over to Lily's as fast as he could. Sure enough it looked like she was readying the truck in the garage. Ellie, Tommy and Lily were out in the drive when he arrived. Lily looked away from him at once, but Tommy came over to meet him. "You," Joel couldn't help himself. "I outta whip the skin right off of you boy."

"You got bigger troubles then me big brother. Ya see, Lil wants to go get that doctor friend of hers."

"I already told you no Lily," he over spoke Tommy.

"I'm going after Richard," she stated flatly.

Ellie piped in. "If you leave without me I'll run away."

"The hell you will!" Joel turned his attention to his girl.

"I'm going to New York with Lily and neither one of you can stop me! You'll just have to come with us Joel."

"Aint nobody going nowhere! " His temper flared. "Ellie, get your ass home and wait for me there like I told you to last night!"

"No."

"Ellie!"

"Fuck this! I'm going with Lily!"

"No you are not!"

Ellie shook her head. "It's the only way to do this. I'm the one that's immune and if a doctor can use my blood to find a cure-"

"You don't know it can be done, neither one of you!"

"We have to try!"

"That is enough Ellie!"

Lily hated to see him yell at the girl. "Get off her case Joel."

"You put these fuckin ideas in her head," he pointed a finger at Lily.

"I was going to bring Richard here not take her to him."

"I already told you no woman!"

"You can't horde the cure for mankind Joel!" Lily shot back.

"She's a kid, _my_ kid!"

Ellie loathed to see Joel and Lily at each other like this. That it was over her just made it so much worse. "Stop it, both of you!" She turned to Joel. "After everything we've been through, after the things we've done, it can't end this way Joel. You lied to me about the fireflies. You told me nobody was looking for a cure anymore. I didn't believe you, but I wanted to so I tried. Now, knowing that there's someone still trying to save us... I have to help. I have to be a part of that Joel."

His stomach tightened. "Ellie no."

She stood her ground, she had to. "I'm going to New York with Lily and if either of you don't play it my way, I'll just disappear."

"Ellie," she was making him worried.

"Fine, I'll take you," Lily stepped up.

"The hell you will," Joel took a protective step toward Ellie.

Ellie got between Joel and Lily. "This is happening. If you want to help, come with us. You can keep me safe."

This was way more than what Tommy bargained for when he let the cat out of the bag. "It's dangerous out there," he reminded them all.

"We aint doin this Ellie."

"Yes we are. Lily is right, you cant hoard the cure. I wont let you."

Just when life was the best it had been in years, the bottom fell out and the landing was mighty hard. "So this is how its gonna play out huh? After everything I've done for you, you would just walk away from me?"

"Don't make me," Ellie begged for understanding.

Joel looked up at Lily, she looked miserable. "This truck runnin?"

"No way Joel," Tommy butt in.

"Shut up Tommy," he snapped back at little brother.

"Yes." She didn't want to do this, but Lily knew she had to.

"How far we talkin between here and there?"

"About two thousand miles, give or take a few."

Joel looked over at the Silverado that had been new the year before the world turned to shit. "Will this thing make it that far?"

"You can't be serious," Tommy was more then nervous.

"There and probably back again," Lily answered.

Tommy wouldn't be ignored. "Joel I brought you down here to talk some sense into these girls not to join em!"

"What do you want me to do Tommy? Leave em tied to a chair until their urge to save humanity passes?"

"If that's what it takes."

"I wouldn't even have to be worrying about this if you had kept your godamn mouth shut. You just couldn't stand to see me with Lily, you jealous little bitch."

"I told you Lil was off limits from day one."

"It wasn't your place to."

Lily grabbed Tommy by the back of his shirt and pulled him back a step her way. "Stop it. Tommy was looking out for me. Trying to save me from you."

"You didn't need savin. I never meant you any harm Lily."

She couldn't help it, the wound was still a fresh one. Under her breath Lily mumbled "Is that what you told Marlene?"

"I wasn't intimate with Marlene," he passed back just as coolly.

"That's enough," Tommy didn't want to hear about his brother fucking Lil anymore then him shooting Marlene in the head.

He wasn't done with Tommy. "Is this what you meant about puttin an end to me and Lily, huh Tommy? You figured if you told her about Ellie's condition and that I'm some crazy murdering bastard she'd just drop me like a bad habit?"

"Yeah that's about right." Tommy straightened.

"You are unbelievable. Wake up little brother, Lily aint your woman!"

"She's my friend."

Lily got between them. "We're not doing this. I will not allow you two fucktards to brawl on my lawn."

Joel looked down at Lily. "I'm gonna take Ellie home. I'll come back over later to look at the truck then we'll talk about drivin to New York," he sneered the name.

Tommy could barely believe his ears. His Lil meant to leave here with his brother and his girl. "No fuckin way."

"Tommy!" Joel had reached his limit with his baby brother. He didn't care if Lily would get mad, she was already anyway so Joel said _fuck it_ and let his fist fly. He clocked his brother in the jaw and sent him staggering back into the truck.

"Joel!" Lily latched onto one of his arms.

He stepped back bringing Lily with him. "I'd appreciate it if you'd keep Ellie out of the way." He peeled her off and shoved her into Ellie just as Tommy charged foreword. Tommy caught him around the middle and the two crashed down into the neatly trimmed grass. They wrestled around a bit, but Joel came out on top. "It's payback time little brother." He let the punches rain down.

Lily wasn't going to just stand there and watch Tommy get his ass handed to him. She jumped on Joel's back hooking an arm around his throat. "Get off of him!"

"Holy shit..." Ellie backed up a step.

"Damnit Lily," Joel reached for her. Suddenly his face exploded in pain. Tommy had got him in the nose good, he tasted blood already. Furious he stood bringing Lily up with him. He twisted out of her hold and took her by the arms. "I said stay with Ellie!" He pushed Lily and turned to face his brother.

"Stay outtta it Lil I got this," Tommy got to his feet and glared at Joel. "Come on mother fucker lets dance."

"If that's the way you want it." Joel stepped up and the fists started flying.

Lily went to step in again and Ellie grabbed her. "Are you kidding me? Don't get in the middle of that!"

"Stop it!" Lily shouted at the brawling men.

They ignored her and went on exchanging blows. Years of pent up anger, frustration and disappointment were channeled into every punch. Their time together, their time apart, all of the painful memories in between. Joel punched Tommy hard in the jaw and he spit out molar at Ellie's feet.

"Jesus Christ Joel!"

Lily ran to the gate and grabbed the hose. She set the nozzle on jet and turned it on the brothers soaking them both. "I said knock it off!"

The freezing water took the fight out of both of them pretty quick. "Cut it out Lil!"

She hit Tommy in the head with the spray. "You done?"

"Yes, I'm done! Turn it off already!"

She dropped the hose and looked at the brothers dripping blood and water all over her lawn. "You fucking assholes."

Joel shook water from his hands. "I'll be back later Lily. Come on Ellie lets go. Tommy, you too."

"Fuck you man." Tommy shook like a dog fresh out of the water.

"I'll get you cleaned up Tommy," Lily sighed.

"No you wont, he's got a wife at home to nurse his wounds." Joel looked from Lily to Tommy. "I said lets go."

He was tired and sore and his face hurt. He wanted Maria to baby him some. "You don't even think about going nowhere Lil." Tommy hobbled his brothers way. "Especially not with this fuckin guy." He started down the drive and Ellie began to follow.

Joel took a long look at Lily. "I'll be back in a little while to look over the truck."

"Fuck off Joel, you're bleeding on my lawn."

"Yeah well I'm bleedin for you and if you aim to drag Ellie all the way across the godamn country then I reckon I'll probably bleed a little more for you along the way."

"I don't need you to bleed for me."

"I don't give a shit what you think you _need_. I will protect you Lily." Joel turned and started after his kin. His head was pounding and his mouth tasted like iron. He caught up to his troublesome girl. "Let's go."

Lily watched the dysfunctional family walk down the street and turn the corner. "Fucking rednecks."

7

He dropped his little brother off and left before Maria got a look at him. Joel took Ellie home; they headed in and he headed for the stairs. "You glue your ass to that couch young lady. I'll deal with you when I get dry." He took the stairs by two and went up to change his clothes.

Ellie sat in the living room waiting to be in trouble and rehearsing her answers. Joel came down cleaned up and in dry clothes. There was a Band-Aid covering a cut under his left eye. "Are you okay?"

"I'll manage." It was barely noon but he went for a drink anyway.

"You beat the hell out of uncle Tommy. He lost a tooth and everything."

"He aint that badly busted up." Joel poured a drink. "I went easy on that son of a bitch if you ask me."

"Maria is going to freak out."

"Maria needs to put Tommy on a much shorter leash." He downed some soothing whiskey. "I thought I told you to stay the hell home today."

_Here we go_. "If I hadn't gone there today none of us would have even known she was going anywhere. Lily was going to leave tomorrow morning."

The idea was frightening. "And you got the bright fuckin idea to go with her?"

Joel rarely dropped f bombs on her. He was seriously pissed. "If I can do something to help beat this shit and give the human race a second chance I have to do it Joel."

"That kinda thinking almost got you killed." He downed another shot. "After everything we went through to survive out there, after all the shit you've seen, you just wanna give up the good life and go right back out into that shit?!"

"We have a truck," she tried.

"We had a truck when we left Bill's too."

"We wont get caught in an ambush this time, we'll be careful."

He drank deep and swallowed hard. "It aint enough I gotta worry about you, ya'all go and throw Lily in there too! This could damn well be a suicide mission!"

She stared at him for a long moment. "I have to do this Joel."

"Right, of course you do." He slammed the rest of this drink. In a fit of fury he threw the glass against the wall. It shattered into pieces that looked like rock candy. "Godamnit!"

Ellie hung her head and waited. Joel would calm down in a bit and he'd see she was right. "Its the right thing to do."

8

It took him a good while to calm down. Ellie was patient with his tirade and strong in her beliefs going east was the right thing to do. Joel had a second drink, cleaned up the glass and then made Ellie something to eat. Once he had her settled in Joel walked over to Lily's. He braced himself as he made his way up the walk to the gate. He passed through into the backyard and went to the back door. "Lily?" he called stepping into her kitchen.

There were two boxes on the table that Lily had started packing with supplies. A worn looking road atlas was accompanied by equally beaten looking notebooks also lay on the table. Joel heard the faint sound of music coming from up in Lily's room. He went to the stairs and called up to her. "Lily?"

Lily hit pause and listened. "Joel?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be down in a second." Lily left the pile of clothes on her bed and went to the stairs. Joel was at the bottom waiting for her. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I yelled for you." Lily came down the stairs and stopped when they were eye to eye.

His eye was turning black and there was a band aid under it. His top lip was bruised on the right side too. "It looks like you got jobbed over pretty good."

"I imagine Tommy looks about the same."

"Your both idiots."

Joel smiled. "He told me this aint the first time he' got punched in the face over you."

"You didn't have to hurt him."

"And he didn't need to come between us the way he did."

"Tommy did what he did to protect me and I'm glad he did."

She was lieing and he knew it. "Two nights ago we lay up in my bed smokin a joint and plannin a picnic. We were happy. You can't just turn that off like you're throwing a light switch Lily."

"Two nights ago I didn't know you killed my friend."

Clearly Lily still needed some time. He shook his head. "Alright then, I reckon I'll go give the truck the once over. Anything in particular I need to know about it?"

"Other then we'll need to be scrounging up a lot of gas?"

"How many miles to the gallon does it get?"

"Fifteen or sixteen."

"That aint good. How much gas can we take with us?"

Lily had given it some thought. "Probably enough to get us to Iowa. I've got a stash of supplies, including gas, about thirty miles south east of Souix Falls."

"A secret stash huh?"

"I have supplies hidden in safe houses in a few places between here and there."

"I bet you got our route all drawn up, don't you."

She stepped past him and started for the kitchen. "I never wanted to take Ellie with me. You know that."

"No, you wanted to run off by your damn self."

"It's my choice."

"You really gotta get away from me that bad? You gonna pull up roots and trek across the country like a godamn gypsy?"

"Richard needs to know about Ellie's immunity."

They stopped in front of the table. "Who the hell is Richard."

"He's a genius, a doctor I know working to find a vaccine."

_A vaccine_ Marlene haunted him. "How do you know this guy?"

"I've known Richard since near the beginning of the end. Helped him and the group set up a safe base. Last time I was there was right before I headed back here."

"He's an old friend?"

"Yes I've fucked him if that's what your fishing for," Lily hope it stung.

His right eye twitched. "You got something goin with Richard the doctor?"

"Not presently."

Her eyes were black, unforgiving. "You expect me to trust him?"

"He's brilliant." She turned away from Joel "Do you want to go over our route or look at the truck first?"

Joel stepped up close enough behind her to smell the flowers in her hair. "What I feel for you hasn't changed Lily. Keep that in mind." He brushed past her and went out to look at the truck.

Lily watched him through the window. He went to her truck and popped the hood. It was some consolation to know that she had hurt him back, she was just sorry Ellie had to be at the center of it all. The time she had spent with the Boston fireflies had made her care for so many of them. Lily hadn't talked to Marlene in three years, but she and Tommy never stayed distant for more then two years at a time. Knowing Joel ended their friends, it was more then she could forgive. She understood his reasons, but it was still his finger on the trigger. Lily looked down at her atlas and tried not to think about two nights ago. It wasn't easy.

9

The Silverado was in good running condition. It had a double cab and a standard box. It was that brownstone color, it could blend in to woods or rock. The chain link attached to bolt plates outside the windows; it was great protection from infected, but a bullet could still find its way through. There were two toolboxes bolted to the bed, one for tools and one gear. The only real problem was the headlights. One was completely smashed out and the other only worked on low. Overall Joel was pretty impressed with Lily's transportation. When he was satisfied he closed the hood and went back inside.

Lily had moved the boxes off the table. The atlas was laid open showing Wyoming. There was a bottle of whiskey and two short glasses on the table. Lily was finishing her dishes, she turned around drying her hands on a faded kitchen towel and looked at Joel. "Well?"

"It's a nice truck."

"It will make the trip." She threw the towel on the counter. "I figure you and I can take turns driving, let the truck sit and cool down a few hours a day. We could be there in about a week."

He looked at Wyoming, Lily had highlighted different highways and marked spots on the map. "You got a route figured out?"

"We'll go back the same way I got here. Its the safest route I know."

"You came back here from New York all alone?"

"I promised Tommy and Maria I would come back."

"Traveling is dangerous enough let alone a woman all by herself."

"I can take care of myself Joel."

For that he was thankful, but he still wanted to be the one taking care of her. "Alright Lily, lets sit and go over this route of yours."

They sat at the table and Joel poured them a round. "We're going to get on 789 and head north. Then it will be 216 to 90."

"How's the roads between here and ninety?"

"Bumpy," Lily concede and sipped her drink.

"We take ninety all the way to New York?"

"We can't. The road is too rough in some places, hunters are in control of others. We'll stick with it though mostly until we're almost to Minnesota, then we cut down to Iowa. Here, I'll show you the route."

They sat at the table going over road maps and discussing their travel plans for nearly two hours. Lily had places picked out for them to stop and let the truck rest, places they could spend a night or more if need be and resupply. She pointed out the places that were still thick with the infected and the territories hunters had control over. Joel took it all in, asking questions when he needed, but mostly he listened.

He finished his second glass. "How long is it gonna take you to round up all the gas we can carry?"

"I can take care of it tomorrow."

"And we'll leave the following mornin, get an early start." He rubbed his chin through his beard. "Maybe I can find a headlight for the truck. You want a hand gettin the gas together?"

Lily shook her head negative. "I'll take the truck to go get it."

"Alright, I'll talk to Tommy about some gear in the morning, see if I can find a headlight for the truck. If not I wouldn't recommend we do too much night drivin. Too much shit layin around on the roads. Is there somethin else you want me and Ellie to bring along?"

"No, I'll take care supplies and camping equipment."

For a long moment he stared at her. "We don't have to do this Lily."

"Then sit on Ellie while I go get Richard. Tie her to a chair or whatever."

"I aint lettin you go out there alone."

"I really don't need a babysitter."

"Maybe so, but I am going to look out for you whether you like it or not."

She looked down into her glass. "Are we done here?"

Joel was far from done with Lily. "After Ellie and I left here we rode all the way out to that university in Colorado." He poured himself a drink. "The fireflies were gone, there was some infected around; clickers and bloaters mostly. We found out they had gone on to Salt Lake City and then we came under attack. Hunters." Joel sipped some whiskey. Lily was looking at him again. "We was just about out of there when one of them bastards got a hold of me. We went over the balcony and a piece of rebar went clean through me when I hit the ground."

"That scar," she remembered seeing it when he had his shirt off.

"Yeah that scar." He smiled at her a little knowing she was thinking more pleasant things. "Messed me up pretty bad. I was down for weeks with Ellie taking care of the both of us. She was out getting food when she ran into this hunter, David. Him and his boys had developed quite the taste for long pork."

"Cannibals," Lily shuddered.

"They got a hold of Ellie; she managed to get away mostly, but David cornered her. She killed him and then I found her and I got her out of there. She didn't leave my site again." He sipped and went on. "We got to Salt Lake, the tunnel to the hospital was flooded. We fell in crossin a bus, I got Ellie out before she drown, but she wasn't breathing. I was giving her CPR when a couple of fireflies found us and bashed me in the head. I woke up in the hospital to Marlene tellin me I couldn't see Ellie 'cause she was being prepped for surgery. They never even gave her the chance to wake up and consent before they drugged her to cut out her fucking brain."

Tommy hadn't told her everything. "Ellie never agreed to..."

"She didn't even know until she heard us." Another shot. "I made my way to the OR, grabbed Ellie and ran. Marlene was waiting for us in the garage. I didn't have a choice. She woulda sicked what was left of her army on me and Ellie and killed us both. I shot Marlene, I took Ellie and I ran. We came here so I could give Ellie a safe place to make a fresh start."

It was a hard truth, but "You did the right thing for Ellie," she shook her head. "You did the right thing. I would have done the same."

"I'm sorry if some of your friends got caught up in that shit Lily and I'm damn sorry I had to take Marlene down. I knew her a long time, longer then you even. I don't regret it, I can't. Ellie is alright and that's all that matters."

Lily nodded and sipped her drink. "I understand."

"I didn't want Ellie to know any of it so I told her a story and I told her what she should and shouldn't be telling other people."

"Like me?"

"Things the way they are between us, I woulda told you about Ellie soon enough and the truth woulda followed."

"The way things _were_," she corrected.

"Oh fuck that Lily. You get why I've done what I've done, woulda done the same godamn thing yourself even. Let's put this behind us and move on."

She took a deep breath and sighed. "They were my friends."

"They were a bunch of fuckin savages aiming to kill my little girl."

The thought was nauseating. _How far did you fall Marlene?_ "I...I can't."

"You're still upset, I get it. I'm gonna back off and give you some space, but you need to think about this and I mean really think hard. I'm the same man that loved you in your bed the other night Lily. We still have a chance, you just gotta take it." He finished his drink in one go and got up. "I need to see to Ellie. I'll be by tomorrow. Goodnight Lily."

Joel went out and Lily finished her drink. She understood him better then she wanted too; it made it hard to hate him. He wasn't ready to give up on them either; clearly the door was still open, all Lily need do is walk through. She thought about Joel smiling up at her from the stacked pillows on her bed. How he pulled her down into his arms and kissed her, the weight of his body on top of her. "Fffffffuuuuuuck," Lily sighed into the kitchen. There was still much to do to get ready for the trip back east. Lily got up and took the glasses to the sink and went to finish packing.

10

"Ya'all are fuckin crazy goin all the way back there," Tommy said through his puffy mouth.

The brothers had mostly made up, but Tommy was still upset they were leaving. They sat having coffee in Tommy's kitchen as Joel told him their plans. "You gonna hook us up Tommy or what?" Joel frowned at his little brother.

Tommy shook his head, no amount of arguing was going to stop anyone from going anywhere. "Yeah, I am. You gotta promise me you're coming back, all three of you."

"Sure we are little brother. We'll have a vaccine too."

"You sure are hopeful."

"Aint gonna do me no good to be any other way."

"Just be careful out there," Tommy was serious. "I know you can take care of Ellie, she listens to you for the most part, but I need you to watch Lily for me too. I'm tellin you now, she's gonna wanna do everything her way."

"We got our route all figured out. We're just gonna drive straight there."

Tommy nodded silently hoping that's exactly what they would do. "If you run into trouble...Lil's good in a fight especially from a distance, but she's still a little woman. She can probably take out one or two guys hand to hand, but if a bunch of scumbags jump her." Tommy stopped and sipped some coffee.

"I'll keep my eye on Lily." Little brother looked all kinds of distressed. "There somethin else you wanna tell me Tommy?"

There was a lot Joel should know and none of it was anything Tommy wanted to share. He sighed depressed. "Lily don't feel fear. Before she has a chance to realize she's scared her crazy mind turns that shit into... well, violent anger."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing. Its kept her alive."

_So have I_. "She used to leave a calling card on the bodies of the hunters and soldiers she killed. Lil would carve a big ol' cursive capital l on their face, if they had one left. She kinda reminded me of you when she pulled stunts like that. I guess that's another reason why I liked her."

He frowned at the backhanded compliment. "Is that so?" Joel remembered hearing about the mysterious killer L many years ago. He had no idea L was a woman let alone one of Tommy's friends.

Little brother shrugged his shoulders. "In some ways Lil was every bit as bad as you, but when it came to her friends, with us she still had a heart. You didn't in those days."

"Is that what made you such good friends?" he jabbed and sipped his coffee.

"We've been through a lot together." Tommy reached up and scratched around the itchy cut above his eyebrow.

"Maybe you outta tell me about it."

"What's Lil said?"

"She said she's saved your ass plenty of times."

Tommy quit scratching. "She has. It goes both ways."

"Yeah, and?"

"And what?" Tommy downed more coffee.

Joel rolled his eyes. "Do you know this Dr Richard guy?"

"Yeah," Tommy looked out the window at the sunny day trying to keep dark memories at bay. "He was an intern when the plague hit. Smart guy."

"Is he trustworthy?"

Richard had saved Lily's life. "I reckon."

"He come down to Boston with Lily?"

"Naw he's always been in New York."

Joel leaned back in his chair. "Then how do you know him?"

"Took Lil up to see him once." He closed his eyes and shut out the summer day. At once he was back in Boston standing in Lil's doorway looking at her ghostly white face. _Jesus Christ Lil what's wrong?_

His little brother was behaving strangely. "What's a matter Tommy, you run Lily up to see Richard and she dumped ya for him?"

Tommy looked at Joel. "I took Lily to New York 'cause she was dieing and needed surgery. Richard was the only one she'd trust after what our firefly doctors done to her."

"What they do?"

"Screwed up," he frowned at his coffee then took a sip.

"You wanna explaine?"

"No I don't."

"Why not?"

He sighed. "It's personal. If Lil wants you to know she'll tell ya."

"So you'll keep Lily's secrets but not mine huh?"

"She had a right to know what I told her."

"I woulda told her Tommy." He sipped his coffee as the brothers hard eyed each other. "I aint givin up on her."

Tommy shook his head. "If you hurt her..."

"You don't need to worry about that."

"I do worry about Lil. She's been through enough. You just watch out for her, bring her back in one piece."

Joel would have time with Lily, time to get her to talk with him. He hoped that eventually she'd tell him about her past with Tommy in a little more detail. "That I will do." They finished their coffee and headed over to the town garage to make some nail bombs.

11

Lily went after the gas they would carry in the morning. She secured the containers in two wooden crates in the back of the pickup. After finish up with the gas she took the truck home again to put the chain link fence on over the windows. when that task was done she loaded food, medical and camping supplies. Lily loaded her favorite guns, her trusty crossbow and boxes of ammo and arrows into the gear box bolted opposite the tool box. Tommy got a hold of her over the radio and told her to bring the truck down to the public garage to load up even more supplies.

Joel's brows went up as his vicious looking ride pulled in. He and Tommy packed a box of bombs and another box with the fixins to make molotov's in another into the back away from the crated gasoline containers. Tommy nagged, begged and pleaded; he got them both to agree to come have dinner at his place. He wanted one last meal together as a family before big brother took Ellie and Lil and went east.

The truck was packed and the plans were made, Lily gave Joel a ride back to his place. Along the way he assured her "Me and Ellie will have our bags together in the mornin. She's still fussing over what to take."

"You can tell her I'll bring books."

"Schoolbooks I hope."

"I won't let her slide too much just because we're out on the road. She's a very smart girl, I wont let her waste it."

He nodded wishing he could rest his arm on the window, fence blocked the hole. "Ya'all can do your thing while I'm drivin."

"I would have liked to drive straight through, but I don't want to kill the truck half way between east and bumfuck."

"Naw we can baby it a bit. Stop and stretch out every few hours. No headlight in this town, but once we get back on the road maybe we'll come across one. Until we do I'd rather not have us driving much at night."

They had come to several compromises last night. "It will be fine. There's a Chevy dealership across the state line, might be able to find what we need there."

"This is gonna be a smooth run Lily," it was a statement and a question.

"Of course."

"I'm trusting you'll make sure nothing happens to Ellie, out on the road and once we get to your friend. I swear if anyone means to harm Ellie, I will put a stop to it."

"No one is going to hurt Ellie."

"You see to it."

"I will." She pulled into his drive and put the truck in park.

Joel put his hand on the door handle to get out. He turned and looked at Lily. "I'm gonna be watchin you."

"I'll mind Ellie."

"Ellie aint the only reason I'll be keepin my eyes on you. I'll see you at dinner." He got out of the truck and stood in his drive as she backed out and drove off. Joel shook his head and went in to tell Ellie Maria was cooking tonight.

12

Maria whipped up a feast, Lily brought a giant bowl of salad all fresh picked from her garden. The food was good, they kept the conversation and the mood light. Lily stuck around for one drink after dinner then bowed out to go home and take care of a few things. Joel had a few more with Tommy and Maria then took Ellie home for the last night they'd spend in their house for a while. They watched Xena until almost midnight before he called it a night and sent Ellie up to bed.

Joel walked around the downstairs a bit, memorizing his house before it was a thousand miles away. He relived the memories he had made here with Ellie and Tommy and Lily. He was going to miss this place. Quietly he promised his home that Ellie and Lily would be back on the couch watching tv again in no time.

13

Lily was in the driveway at ten of seven, they were packed and ready to go on the hour. Tommy was at the gate to see them off in the morning. He hugged them all hard and told them he'd leave the light on for them. He watched the Silverado round the bend and fought the sinking feeling he'd never see them again. "Ya'all come back ya hear?" Tommy turned away from the gate and went to get to work.


	6. Chapter 6

The Road

Chapter Six

Ellie was quite excited about beginning their journey. For the first hour she asked questions about their route and if there was _anything cool_ along the way. They talked about the place they were going to, what expectations she should have about the place. By the second hour into the trip Ellie was getting bored. The adults had gone quiet for the most part. "Are we still in Wyoming?"

Joel rolled his eyes to the girl in the back. "You are not going to start that 'are we there yet' Ellie."

"I was just wondering where we were jeez," she acted more offended then she was.

"We'll be in Wyoming for a while still," Lily peeked up in the rear view for a quick look at Ellie.

"Oh," she sagged a little.

The adults exchanged a knowing look. "Didn't you bring some books or something?" Joel questioned turning in his seat some to look at her.

"Well, yeah," she exaggerated the obvious.

"Then read your dang book."

"Its not a dang book," she quipped picking up her backpack. "It is kind of depressing though Lily."

Lily shrugged her shoulders. "It's an excellent period piece."

"Yeah well I still bad for the kid." She pulled _Sounder_ out of her bag.

"After you finish it I have something else for you. I brought a few books along."

"Cool." Ellie had noticed that the truck has a slot to play cd disks. "Did you bring any music?"

"Sure," Lily always traveled with tunes. "In that pouch on the back of Joel's seat there's a blue case."

Ellie set the book down immediately to find music to listen to. She found the case and unzipped it. It was stuffed with disks, some in the little sleeves and some in between. "Cool do these all work?"

"They should."

The girl flipped through the booklet thing looking at the flat silver circles with CDR stamped on them and their names written on them in Lily's hand. She decided on one called Road Jams, it seemed appropriate. She passed it up to Joel. "Here put it in."

He eyed the disk suspiciously. "This aint gonna be inappropriate for Ellie is it?"

"Fuck Joel, just put it in." Ellie was impatient to hear Lily's road jams.

"It's fine," Lily assured worried pop.

Joel sighed and put the disk in. Lily reached over and turned up the volume. The guitar began, in a moment Lily was singing "An old man turned ninety eight, he won the lottery and died the next day. Its a black fly in your chardonnay, its a death row pardon two minutes too late. And isn't it ironic, don't ya think?" Lily loved the song and exploded the chorus belting it out right along with Alanis.

Ellie laughed delighted as Lily sang the song most animated. At first Joel just shook his head, but he was smiling. He remembered the song, it had been quite popular when he was still full of piss and vinegar.

Lily threw inhibition to the wind and twisted in her seat as she sang the song sometimes to Ellie in the mirror. She was revisiting some fun girlhood memories too. Joel couldn't help himself by the end he found himself singing along with Lily "A traffic jam when you're already late. A no smoking sign on your cigarette break." The girl in the back squealed hearing her pops join in. "It's like ten thousand spoons when all ya need is a knife."

Lily smiled. "It's meeting the man of my dreams."

"And then meeting his beautiful wife." Joel wagged a finger at Lily.

The adults sang together, Ellie thought it was fantastic. Joel wasn't as restless in his seat as Lily was, but she could see they were both having fun. _Yes! if the rest of the trip can just go like this... _When the song ended she clapped as they laughed at themselves and each other. "That was awesome."

2

Ellie was content to sit back and enjoy the music for a while. Eventually she kicked back and started reading her book. She made her way through a good chunk of it and looked up at the adults in front. Joel was nodding off. "Hey, are we still in Wyoming?"

"Ellie," Joel grumbled a warning.

"What? we've been driving for like eight hours."

"It's been more like five," Lily corrected. "We're almost out of Wyoming."

"Ugh!" Ellie set her book aside. "I'm hungry and I have to pee and I want to get out of this truck."

Joel sighed, but Lily could empathies. "Alright, I'll find a spot." The road was clear of abandon cars and debris for miles around. Lily slowed them to a stop and put the truck in park. She killed the engine and Tom Petty came to a sudden stop.

She couldn't wait to be out and Ellie had her feet on the pavement before the adults had even opened their door. "Ahh freedom."

The protective father got out quick. "Ellie, godamnit. Would you let me get out first and make sure it's safe?"

"There's nothing here Joel, you can relax."

"Just do what I tell you Ellie, its the least you can do dragging us away from home for this horse shit."

Lily got out and stretched a little. "Oh man I sat on my ass too long."

Ellie started for some shrubs at the side of the road. "I'm going."

"I'll go with you," Lily offered before Joel could find a problem with it.

The girls walked away, he put his back to them and walked off to water some grass of his own. Lily made them wash their hands with some of their portable water, Ellie spread a canvas tarp in front of the truck; they had jam sandwiches and cucumber slices with their lemon tea in repurposed old plastic soda bottles. After they ate there was some walking and stretching, Joel offered to take over driving and Lily accepted.

Joel was helping Lily snap the cover back on after putting away the tarp when Ellie asked "How much longer will we be in Wyoming?"

"Ellie," Joel did not want to hear it again.

"We're almost done here Ellie I promise." Lily went to her door as they started to pile back into the truck.

"How much more driving are we going to do today?" the girl nearly groaned.

"Until it gets near dark I reckon," Joel settled in his seat.

Ellie slammed her door shut and rolled her eyes. "You have so got to be kidding me."

"This aint no leisurely road trip," Joel reminded the girl in the rear view mirror as he adjust it for his eye level.

"I'm going to have to start calling this truck Callus Two with all the fucking sitting I have to do back here."

"Are you uncomfortable Ellie?" Lily closed her door.

"My ass only has so much padding," Ellie grunted squirming in her seat to get comfortable again.

Lily looked over at Joel, he was frowning and shaking his head a little. "Okay than, how about this. There's a rest stop just across the state line, we'll camp there for the night, start again in the morning."

"How much longer until we get there?" Ellie asked suspiciously. She was sick of this giant state.

"An hour or so. Can you hold on that much longer?"

Joel wasn't crazy about the idea. "How do we know it's safe Lily? I think we should just keep going."

"Oh come on Joel," Ellie pleaded at him in the rear view.

"We'll make sure the place is secure, set up inside. It will be fine," the other adult assured.

He sighed. "This aint no vacation it is dangerous out here."

"We'll be fine."

"I'll stop, but if there aint a way to make it safe for the night we're gonna keep movin."

Ellie was grateful she wouldn't have to be in this truck for too much longer. Joel could make just about any place safe. "Thanks Joel."

"Don't thank me yet." He started the truck and dropped it into gear hoping their luck would hold out a while longer.

3

Joel made it a point to pull Ellie's nose out of her book when the _Welcome to South Dakota _sign came into view. She put her book down and paid attention to the road the rest of the way there. Joel slowed and pulled off ninety at the rest area. The parking lot still housed a few cars abandon years ago and left to rust; two of the three had at least one flat tire and they all had windows missing glass. A picnic table sat rotting in the midst of a brick shelter that had its roof blown off. The blue handicap sign on the front was faded and rusting. The main building was just bathrooms and tourist information, it's heavy glass doors were still intact, a pair of beverage vending machines stood sentinel by the entrance. The place appeared to be empty. Joel parked a short distance from the entrance watching the door.

"I'll go in and make sure it's clear." Lily reached for her door handle.

"Now wait just a godamn minute," Joel put a hand on her arm to hold her up. "There could be a pack of clickers inside there. Just sit tight, I'll sneak round and get a peek."

"That's just what I was going to do," Lily frowned at him.

"You drive the getaway car if need be." He opened his door. "Come on now get in my seat." Joel got out and drew shorty as Lily slid into the drivers seat. "Watch my back."

Lily freed her nine from the holster sitting between the seats. She got behind the door aiming at the information center. "Ellie, watch behind us."

"Okay," Ellie got on her knees and looked out the back window.

Joel ducked from one patch of overgrown junipers to the next. He didn't hear anything, he didn't see anything _yet_. Cautiously he made his way behind a stone bench doubling as a short wall that kept pedestrians on the sidewalk and off the back lawn. He listened and still heard nothing. Quietly he inched past the vending machines toward the door; the lobby looked empty so he stepped inside.

It was hot in here and the air was stale. The lobby was empty save the book racks still stuffed full of yellowing tourist pamphlets. Joel stood listening for a minute. It was all quiet so he moved to check the men's room. He pulled the door open, gun ready. The door let out a rusty squeak and Joel heard the familiar sound of a clicker being startled awake. "Shit," he whispered as the clicker burst out of a stall near the end of the line.

The clicker in mechanics coveralls charged at the sound of the meal it found. Joel let it get a little closer then fired his gun. Shorty ripped the top half of the clicker to pieces and it fell down dead. Behind him he heard another scream. He turned quickly to see a second clicker come running at him from the lobby. Joel turned and shot the monster that had been hiding in the other bathroom. He did a quick check of the men's room for any more surprises then did the same in the ladies. It had been just the two in here. He went back to the door and stepped back out into the sunny afternoon.

"I heard shots!" Lily called out as soon as she saw him.

Joel made haste back to the truck. "There were a couple of clickers in there, but I got em. I'm gonna go check those sheds out back, then I'll take care of the bodies."

"Are we good?"

"I think so."

"I'll walk the perimeter, you check the sheds."

The place checked out fine, no more infected or otherwise were found. Joel and Lily dragged the dead clickers out behind the sheds. The adults wrestled the Special Cola and Snapple machines inside to use to block the entrance as they slept tonight. Ellie helped Lily put up the three man pup tent in the lobby. They grabbed what they wanted from the truck and then Joel parked it in the overgrown grass behind the tourist stop. There was plenty of time before it started to get dark for everyone to walk off such a long sit and take in a beautiful view.

Ellie sat on a picnic table that had once been painted white. Twenty years of neglect had taken it back down to bare wood in most places, moisture had warped the pine stealing its flat away. She looked over at the adults, Joel was getting a fire going so Lily could heat the stuff she was putting into a cast iron cooking pot. Ellie was hoping for something good, Lily was a preserving pro and had brought all kinds of stuff to keep them fed along the way. The broken couple had been good with each other today, there was still hope they could work it out. Ellie would be patient, she didn't want them annoying each other when they had to spend ten hours a day cooped up together in the truck. The view of the rock outcropping was fabulous, Ellie kicked back and waited for food.

4

Joel let them linger outside until the stars came out then insisted they barricade in for the night. Lily chained the doors together then the adults moved the soda machines in the way. He used one of the pamphlet displays to block the men's room door and the other for the ladies just in case; they had windows low enough to be boosted up into.

When they were secure and settled in Lily had something for Joel. She dug the novel out of a bag and offered him _The Gunslinger_. "Here, it's the revised one."

Joel took the worn looking paperback . _The Gunslinger_ was embossed with mostly scrubbed off gold paint _The Dark Tower I_ was printed below it. The circular medal beside the crow on the cover promised _Revised and expanded throughout_. The books spine bore the lines of pages being spread open over and over again. "Revised huh?"

"Do you remember when Stephen King got hit by that van?"

"Jesus Christ! Stephen King got hit by a van?" Ellie asked with eyebrows raised. "Did it kill him?"

"No, but almost." Lily was a fan. She read _It_ at thirteen and was hooked. "He was fucked up for a while, but it made him realize he had to finish the Dark Tower series; for the fans. It scared him enough to crank out the last three books in just a few years. Overall though, he had been writing about Roland for over a decade. As the story grew a few things changed so he revised the first book and gave us his finished series."

He was trying to remember the story. "Does Roland get to the tower?"

Lily smiled. "Spoilers~" she laughed and went back into her bag for her own book.

"Can I read those books?" Ellie was interested.

"Maybe when you're a little older." Joel sat on his sleeping bag; he had unrolled outside the tent. He was _not_ cramming himself in there with the girls. "Tom Gordon is one thing, but this Roland feller is another."

Ellie put a hand on her hip in defiance. "Oh yeah, how come?"

"Because Roland is a motherfucker," Lily would never forgive him for Jake. "Have you finished _Sounder_ yet?"

"Ugh, almost. It's so depressing. I hope you have something good for me after this."

"I think I can manage that."

It was getting late enough to be parental, they had another long day ahead. Joel looked over at his girl in the lantern light. "Maybe you can manage finishing you're assigned readin before you worry about another book. In fact you outtta be layin down reading now. It's gettin late Ellie and we have to be up early."

"I don't see why I need to be well rested to sit on my ass for a week," she grumbled her protest.

"Ellie," big daddy warned.

"Fine," she gave up the fight. Ellie grabbed her book and flashlight and crawled into the tent.

Lily took her own book in one hand and her flashlight in another. "I'm going to join Ellie. Happy reading." She ducked into the tent leaving Joel alone.

He sighed and looked down at _The Gunslinger_. Parts of the story came back to him. Roland the _motherfucker_ let the kid die, that much he could remember. He bet that's why Lily didn't like him. "The Dark Tower one huh? We'll alright then." He got comfortable on his sleeping bag and started to read.

Joel was lost in the desert with the gunslinger and the boy when Lily snuck out of the tent, her flashlight leading the way. He looked over his shoulder at her. "Lily?"

"Joel," she went to her backpack and unzipped it. "I see you're still reading."

"The introduction was pretty weird. Stephen King musta hit his head pretty hard in that accident or maybe it was the drugs."

Lily laughed fishing out a small Tupperware container. "He had an amazing mind, incredible story telling talent."

"I guess." He watched Lily pluck a joint from her water tight box and he lifted a brow. "Oh really?"

"Ellie is asleep, has been for a while."

"What if we get attacked by hunters or runners?"

"I can still shoot with a buzz." She fished her lighter out of her pocket. "My back is angry with me and I need something to help me sleep." She lit up and took the fresh hit.

Joel sat up so there was room for Lily to sit on his sleeping bag with him. His body wasn't happy with the prolonged sitting either. "Go on, sit down." He bent the corner of the page he was on and set his book aside as she sat down cross legged beside him. Lily offered him the joint. He took it. "My neck is kinda stiff."

"We'll get to that dealership in the morning, check for a headlight." She took her dubie back. "Maybe if we make more frequent stops to stretch we can travel into the night." Lily took a big hit and passed it back.

"I don't really trust the roads." Joel hit the joint again. "We should start looking for gas too. I know you got some squirreled away somewhere, but we're low now and you can never be too sure your stash wasn't found."

He was as practical as he was protective. "Headlights and gas, got it." He passed her dube back and she hit it again.

Ellie was asleep, Joel had something for Lily. She offered him the smoke again and he waved her off. Joel pulled his backpack to him and stuck his hand in for the recorder. "I got something for you Lily." He freed it from his bag and they looked at it. "I found this when I was making my way to Ellie in the hospital. It ended up in the bottom of my bag, forgotten until I started to pack for this trip."

Lily looked at the recorder like it was hostile. "What is it?"

"Marlene's recorder. I'd rather Ellie not hear it, but here," he held out the device to Lily.

She looked from the thing in his hand to Joel. "Marlene..."

It looked like she wasn't going to take it so Joel just hit play. _Hey Anna_ the voice of a ghost talking to a ghost whispered through the lobby. Marlene sounded tired, reminiscent but determine. She was going to kill Ellie without looking for another way. She would leave _the smuggler_ alive to share the pain with her. _Your daughter will be with you soon. _Joel hit stop. "Like I said, I had no choice."

Lily hung her head for a moment. "Marlene was always full of herself, she could be cut throat sometimes, but this... Fuck Marlene." She hit the dwindling joint. "Obviously she changed over the years and it wasn't for the smarter."

"I just want you to understand what we were dealing with back there Lily."

"I do understand."

"Then don't hate me for it." They stared at each other in the lantern's glow for a long moment. Lily took one more hit off her smoke then crushed it out on the tile floor. "I think we had a pretty good day today, looks like we got to have that picnic after all."

She looked at him wanting to forgive, but Lily still wasn't able. "Today wasn't so bad. I'm going to bed." She pitched the dead end of her joint into a corner and went back into the tent.

There was hope and the road ahead was a long one. Joel went back to his book and read a little more. The weed left him relaxed and soon he was sleepy. He marked his page, doused the light and lay down to get some sleep.

5

In the morning Joel and Lily slid a soda machine out of the way and stepped out into the light of early day guns drawn. He went around back while she moved to the parking area to take in the bigger picture. They were still alone; Joel brought the truck back up to the cracked concrete. Lily started a fire and brewed a cup of coffee for each of them in her little percolator. The trio had a quiet breakfast taking in the beautiful scenery before it was behind them. They packed up the truck, Joel offered to drive first and Lily accepted.

After a quiet start Lily reminded him, "The Chevy place is just past this town called Piedmont, exit forty six."

"Is it empty?"

"I've never seen anything there, but I've only hit the gas stop over that way, I don't go through town if I can avoid it."

It was a smart way to go. Where there used to be people, now only clickers remained as a testament to the slaughter of mankind by the infected. "If we can find another Silverado I can strip off any good parts we got room for in the back."

"Let me guess," Ellie looked away from the window up into the rear view. "You worked in a chop shop too?"

"How do you even know what a chop shop is?" He parented into the rear view. "Never mind. I've worked on cars in my time is all you need to know."

Ellie sighed and sagged back in her seat. "A gas station and a car lot, awesome tourist attractions,"

"This aint a vacation Ellie."

"I know, but its not like we're going to do this again anytime soon. If there's something cool along the way I want to see it."

"Most cool stuff," Joel used her words, "is in populated areas that are clicker and hunter territory."

"Yeah, but not all of it right? I mean, I know that was just rest stop, but the scenery was beautiful."

Joel sighed, he agreed. "I'm sure you'll see plenty of scenery along the way."

Lily didn't want Joel scolding Ellie anymore then she wanted the girl nagging him. "There are a lot of pretty places between here and there. Why don't you take out your US history book?"

"Aww man, school now?" Ellie complained.

Lily turned and looked back at Ellie. "You've got away with doing a whole lot of nothing these past few days. Get out your book, use the index to find South Dakota and read me its history aloud."

His girl groaned, but did what her teacher told her. Lily had Ellie all under control and he smiled a little. Ellie began to read about the indigenous people and worked her way up to the Louisiana Purchase by the time Joel saw the exit coming up. "That it Lily?"

"Yes. The gas station is on the right."

Ellie looked up from her book to see the next place they were going. Joel slowed them as he veered off onto the off ramp. She had a clear view of the gas station across the way. There was a covered island for the gas pumps out in front of the grocery store. There were cars packed in all around the pumps, people had abandon their cars here a long time ago. A big rig with no trailer had smashed into the pole that held up a red sign that now lay in pieces in the shadow of the cab. There were vehicles left to rust and rot in front of the market too. The front windows of the store had been smashed out, so had the glass in the door. "We're going over there?"

Joel proceeded with caution, he brought the truck to a crawl as he turned right off the ramp to turn into the gas station. "Everybody keep your eyes peeled."

"Underground tanks are right behind that Honda." Lily pointed studying the cluster of cars at the pumps. Everything looked as it had when she was here last.

He pulled up alongside the well caps and parked. Joel shut the truck off and they all sat listening through the chain link. When he was satisfied he didn't hear anything he opened his door a crack. "I'm gonna take a look around the cars."

Lily grabbed her nine and opened her door. "We should check the store too. I'll watch your back."

Ellie put the history book down as the adults got out and closed their doors quietly behind them. They moved like the soldiers Ellie saw in that _Aliens_ movie. She could imagine them finding a nest of clickers in the store. Ellie shuddered as they circled the island. "Anything?" she called softly out the window as the pair started for the store.

Lily shook her head negative, she and Joel approached the market and paused outside to listen. They still heard nothing; Joel pulled the metal door frame open and stepped inside with Lily behind him. They passed the cashiers counter, Lily peeked behind to make sure there weren't any new corpses. They moved isle by isle down the store then walked to the back to check the far end. They were almost to the office in back when there came the familiar sound of clicking.

Joel stopped in his tracks for a second then moved back pushing Lily with him. They ducked behind one of the four produce stands listening. He heard two different creatures clicking and flashed Lily two fingers. She nodded in understanding, he pulled out his hunting knife as the first clicker came staggering out of the doorway. It stopped, twitched and shrieked before starting down the ravaged pet food isle. He looked at Lily, pointed to his eyes and then the office door. She put her gun on the door as he turned to sneak after the first clicker.

Her head was barely above the stand, Lily kept her gun on the door, but watched Joel as he stealthily closed the distance between himself and the infected. When the clicker stopped to twitch again Joel jumped him and ended his noise with a good stab to the jugular. _Nice. _

He wasn't done yet. Joel stepped over the dead clicker and grabbed an old jar of pickles off a shelf. He wanted to kill the other clicker away from Lily and without anyone having to fire a shot. He looked back at her and pressed the air down with the palm of his left hand. She ducked and he threw the jar where he wanted the clicker to be. Glass shattered and the clicker in the office roared. It charged out seeking the source of the sound. While it clicked and twisted over the pickle mess Joel got up behind it and plunged his knife into its neck. He dropped the dead thing and looked around. "Okay, I think we're all clear."

She got up and went to the office for a peek inside, nothing of any interest. "Let's get back to Ellie."

"Let's get this gas and get the dang light and get the hell outta here."

"Clickers must have wandered up here from one of the towns off ninety."

"Which means there may be more around here." They moved through the store to the door. "Let's get this over with." Joel stepped into the sunlight and looked around again. "Alright Ellie, you can get out, but stay near the truck."

Ellie got out to meet her caretakers in the parking lot. "Everything go okay in there?"

"We're fine," he moved past his girl to the truck.

"Ellie why don't you grab the binoculars out of the truck and keep a look out while we get some gas," Lily was more gentle.

"Sure." She walked with Lily back to the truck. Joel was already unsnapping the cover back. Lily went to help, Ellie opened the drivers door and grabbed the binoculars. She took them and climbed up on the roof of the Honda for a less obstructed view. Behind the store was wooded hills. Across multiple lanes of highway was the car dealer Lily was talking about. Between it and the intersection was a big steakhouse, its giant sign facing the highway was still legible after twenty years of exposure to the elements. "There's a big restaurant by that car place," Ellie looked at the adults now screwing around with hoses. "Think there's anything in there we can use?"

"Knives maybe," Lily straightened her end of the hose.

"We don't need to be going in there," Joel frowned. "There could be more clickers in there."

"More clickers?" Ellie raised a brow.

"There were two inside." He grabbed the crowbar out of the back and used it to pry up the heavy cover. He moved it aside and caught his breath. "We're just gonna get this damn gas and a damn headlight and get on outta here."

"Fine," Ellie went back to watching for anything moving around out there.

"I'm not sure how much is left here," Lily looked down into the hole.

Joel started to feed the hose down into the darkness. "We'll see."

There was enough gas to fill the three empty gas cans in the back and top the truck off.

6

Joel worked as quick as he could and spilled very little. While he finished securing the truck Ellie and Lily went back inside the market to see if there was anything of use left in there. Lily scavenged the coins out of the registers and took the last three working cigarette lighters that had fallen behind the counter. The change could go into some bombs and lighters were always useful. Ellie found a deck of playing cards still mostly new inside their packaging. She stuffed them in her back pocket and followed Lily out of the store.

They got back in the truck and Joel eased them across the bypass. The parking lot of the steakhouse was empty, the dealership lot looked like it had been raided. The customer service center had been burned down to its concrete frame. Some of the cars were missing tires, others sat with their hoods open to the Dakota sky. He cruised over to a line of trucks, two of them were Silverados and the year he needed. "Now that's what I'm talking about." He parked in front of the trucks and killed the engine. Once again they all sat listening for the sounds of infected.

Joel stepped out first with El Diablo in his hand. He looked around as Lily got out behind him. "Let's walk the lot real quick, make sure we're alone."

Lily gave Ellie the quick warning, "Stay alert," then followed Joel down a row of SUV's. He took one side of the driving lane, she took the other. They ducked around the Chevy's checking for sign of infected or hunters. Their luck held out, the lot was clear and they made their way back to the truck. "It's okay Ellie."

Ellie got out bringing the binoculars with her. "So what now?"

Joel went to the back of the truck and rolled back the cover to get to the tool box. "Now I'm gonna get us some parts."

The girl sighed. "And we get to stand around and watch."

Lily took the binoculars from Ellie as Joel picked out some tools. "I'll keep watch, you can help Joel, maybe learn something." She climbed up on top of the SUV closest to her truck to see the lot and everything around it.

She sidled up to Joel. "Can I help?"

As long as Lily had her eyes all around Joel could make the time to spend with Ellie. "Sure you can. I'll show you how to get it done."

7

Joel spent the next half hour showing Ellie how to take out the good headlight without destroying it and how to put it back into their truck's front end. They tested the light, it worked on high and low. He decided to go after the other light to replace the low beam only light on the other side. He and Ellie got it out and were going back to their truck when from above Lily warned "I see runners, pack of about a dozen coming down ninety west."

"Alright get in the truck," Joel took the new light and the tools he used and put them in the toolbox. He snapped the cover closed as Ellie got in and Lily climbed down.

"Let's get out of here before they get too close." Lily jumped in and closed her door.

Joel heard one of the runners scream in the distance. "Shit." He got in, slammed the door and started the truck up. There were still plenty of parts he could have picked off the other truck, but they were out of time; the runners would be here in minutes. The infected saw the truck pull back out onto the road and head for the eastern onramp. It was enough to riel some of them up enough to break into a run to reach the travelers before they were gone. They got back on ninety and Joel pushed down on the gas a little harder. He could see runners in the rear view as he left the place in their road dust. "I thought you said you didn't see any infected around here?"

"I haven't before today. The clickers don't worry me, but the runners still looked kinda fresh. They've turned within the last six months."

"Hunters?"

"A couple of them were women, it was more likely a group of survivors that..." Lily didn't vocalize their misfortune.

"Do you think it was one of Uncle Tommy's outposts?" Ellie worried.

"Naw," Joel tried to sound reassuring. "We're too far away from any of those places, besides Maria makes sure the other towns check in often. It wasn't one of ours."

Ellie nodded somewhat relieved to know places that were secured against the infected could stay that way. "So they were people trying to live out here?"

"Or people traveling from one QZ to another," Lily didn't mention the black armband she saw at least one runner wearing. She would save the firefly talk until Ellie was asleep.

"Where is the closest quarantine zone?"

"There's one in Sioux Falls still holding on," Lily answered putting her gun back in its holster. "Maybe they were headed there from someplace further west."

"They didn't make it," the girl sagged in her seat.

The adults exchanged a knowing glance. "Best not to dwell on it," Joel looked back at the road. "You should get back to your studies, we'll stop for lunch in a while."

"Come on Ellie, back to your history."

Ellie put the history book back in her lap. "How long will we be in South Dakota?"

"Damnit Ellie," Joel didn't want to hear this again.

"Six hours give or take," Lily answered. "Find your place in the book." The girl sighed heavily, Lily looked over at Joel sidelong. He took his eyes off the road long enough to look over and give her an appreciative nod. She didn't want Ellie worrying about it either. "Louisiana Purchase, lets go."


	7. Chapter 7

The Road

Chapter Seven

Joel continued on for another hour before he stopped them for lunch in another big empty part of the highway. There was a hill twenty feet from the blacktop, they climbed to the top to stretch their legs and spread their picnic lunch. From their vantage point they could see for miles around, nothing bothered them, the runners were far behind. Ellie was fully sick of talking about South Dakota and turned her mind to more interesting things. "What's this place we're going to like Lily? Is it a town?"

"Kind of, it's what we made it and they've done things to the place over the years. It was a vineyard on Cayuga Lake."

"Vineyard? Wine and grapes and all that?" Joel smiled at his fond memories of wine touring the year before Sara was born.

"Yes. It was a big wide open spot so we secured sections of it at a time. It's quite extensive now and it goes all the way out into the lake. There are a lot of RV's and trailers that got hauled in for people to make a home for themselves. It's not like they had the resources to build an apartment building, so they needed another way to introduce some housing. Everything good went into the walls."

Ellie asked, "Do you have one there? A trailer place?"

"Yes, a two bedroom with a small office near the lab. I'm sure its a disaster. I left crap all over the place," she sighed remembering the piles of paperwork still sitting on the dining table.

"Did you teach kids there too?"

"No I handled other things."

"Are there other kids there?"

"A few," Lily smiled at Ellie. "Karen is about your age."

The girl smiled back. "Another girl my age? Do you know her?"

"A little, I'm sure I can introduce you."

Joel had a few questions of his own. "Are Ellie and I staying with you? She aint gotta be in the hospital or some bullshit, right?"

"I can accommodate you at my place if a private residence isn't available."

"You gonna keep up with Ellie's lessons while we're there?"

"Of course."

Ellie looked at her guardians. "So even when I'm a lab rat I can't get a break from homework?"

Joel smiled at his girl. "Look on the bright side, you'll be out of South Dakota."

Lily shook her head and her student groaned. "You aren't going to be a lab rat Ellie. Richard will draw blood samples a few times a week, no big deal."

Ever since she heard the awful truth she couldn't help but wonder "What if he comes to the same conclusion the firefly doctors did?"

"He wont," Lily barely let her finish.

"How can you be so sure?"

"The firefly doctors are a bunch of butchers using lazy, half learned science. Richard was in his last year of residency when the shit hit the fan. He has been a _real_ doctor for twenty years and the guy is a genius. He's been set up studying the CBI for a little less then a decade."

He remembered what Tommy told him about the firefly doctors _butchers _screwing up with Lily. "What took the genius so long to get around to it?" Joel grumbled.

"Surviving the outbreak, finding a place to secure and securing it, running water, electricity, a proper lab," Lily could see his insecurity showing.

Ellie didn't want them fighting, they still had a lot of South Dakota to get through. "Studying how?"

"He's memorized the research that was done before things came to an abrupt stop, what different military scientists have and are doing in various quarantine zones. He's been conducting experiments on infected blood and tissue the past few years."

Dad straightened. "Do I even wanna know where he gets it? Please don't tell me he's keeping infected around."

"No, of course he's not. The infected are put down outside the wall, samples are taken in the field."

"You really think he's gonna find somethin in Ellie's blood to make a vaccine?"

"I do."

Her pops was frowning still skeptical, but Lily's confidence gave Ellie hope. "And if he makes a vaccine, we'll take a whole bunch back to uncle Tommy's right?"

"You bet we will," Joel finished his sweet tea.

"The vaccine and instructions for making more will be sent everywhere; quarantine zones, settlements on the outside. We'll be busy."

He shook his head at Lily. "We aint going nowhere but back to Jackson."

"I don't expect you to," Lily frowned right back.

"I'm including you in that we."

"I will take you back to Jackson when we're done in New York like I promised."

"And you'll fuckin stay there. You aint gonna go running around the countryside delivering medicine or whatever Lily. You can let your doctor's people handle that."

The f bomb was indicative Joel had something stuck in his crawl. "I am one of his people."

"Not after this. The way I see it you're helpin find the vaccine, bringin it right to his doorstep. That's enough. When this is over we are going home, all of us."

"I love how you think you can tell me what to do," Lily favored him with a patronizing smile. "Actually when we get back to Jackson setting up a lab there to make more of the vaccine will be my top priority, but thanks for getting all macho on me there Texas."

Joel rolled his eyes. _Here we go_. "I wasn't gettin macho and I'm lookin out for you."

"You can't order me around like I'm some overzealous, man pleasing housewife."

Ellie stopped their argument quick. "Wait, you guys are getting married?" They both turned and looked at her.

"Of course not, " Lily laughed sardonically. "Marriage is for suckers."

"Don't tell her that," Joel turned his frown back to Lily.

"Why not, its true."

"Not all the time it aint. I've known plenty of folks happily married. Tommy and Maria are doin alright. You don't gotta bad mouth marriage just because you're too scared to get hitched."

"Ha!" she laughed defensive. "I'm not scared I'm smart. I'm not going to listen to some swinging dick tell me what to do with my life."

Joel shook his head. "That aint what marriage is. It's a partnership."

"It's a chick trap. Stay home, have kids, do nothing with your life. Fuck that shit."

"Oh don't give me that bullshit. I was a single dad for eight years and I worked my ass off to provide for my kid."

Tommy had told Lily a lot about his life before the pandemic, he talked about Joel and Sara often. "I know you did. Tommy talked about the old days a lot, he really missed who you used to be."

Joel scowled _Oh really?_ He wondered "And just what did Tommy say?"

"He said that you were a great dad and that Sara was your world."

Ellie shifted on her knees as the adults stared each other down. "I think you're a great dad, I mean I know you're not my father, but..." Joel was looking at her. "You're a good dad, a little over protective, but still a good dad."

Her praise cooled the anger rising inside him. "Well I got a good kid making it easy for me, most times anyway," he gestured around at the wide open spaces.

It made her happy to be accepted as his daughter and Ellie smiled. "Well, I have to save the human race right?"

Lily decided to pack it up before the conversation had a chance to turn serious. She stood and stretched her back. "I'll drive for a while."

"Does that mean we can give history a break?" Ellie was hopeful.

"I guess for now."

"Cool. Can we listen to more music?"

"I think its time for some guitar."

Joel recalled what she said about rock and roll _that night_... "You aint gonna put on screaming rock are you?"

Lily smiled down at grumpy dad. "Screaming guitar."

_Great_. "Yeah we'll lets not have it screaming too loud."

Ellie stood and stretched. "I thought you like the guitar? You play one."

"I play acoustic country, Lily is talkin about electric squealing noises."

"Eddie Van Halen does _not_ make squealing noises." Lily put a fist on her hip.

"Yeah right." Joel stood up. "Alright, lets pick it up and get back on the road. New York aint gettin any closer with all of us just standin here."

They gathered their things and packed back into the truck. There was some backpack shuffling and settling in. Lily put in a cd bearing the name _Guitar Jams_. Joel sighed and sat back to listen to Van Halen.

2

Joel was pleased that the music wasn't all metal or rock, just most. Some of it was nothing but one long guitar solo. Lily identified different songs for Ellie, talked about the guitarists and different sources she had gathered the music from. Not all of it was rock bands. The soundtrack for something she called _FFAC_ had some heavy guitar tracks. The cd was cycling through the songs Lily had pulled off the OST when their first look at the water came up in their right side. "There's something for you to see Ellie."

She looked out her window first and then ahead. "Are we going to go over a bridge?"

"It's not up real high or anything," Lily assured her.

Ellie got a sinking feeling in her stomach. "I don't like bridges much."

Lily started around the curve that would take them out over the water. "We can see all the way to the other side."

"Joel, watch ahead."

"I am," he promised his girl.

"No, use the binoculars," Ellie pushed on his arm a little to get him moving.

"Alright, alright." Joel grabbed the binoculars off the dash and brought them up to his eyes. He had to adjust to seeing around the fence on the other side of the windshield; he looked down the long empty highway that came out a on a manmade peninsula and then out over open water before disappearing back into the hills. He was glad he didn't see any debris on the road, it looked solid for as far across as he could see.

Lily followed the curve out onto the bridge. _The Chase of Highway_ was a rockin tune, she bopped her head along to the guitar. She would have had it blaring, but Joel had insisted on a more moderate volume. The sun reflected off the water and Lily noticed the floating oil sheen the on the right. Humans were nearly extinct, but their pollution was still everywhere. "More shit leaking into the rivers," she shook her head.

Ellie looked out at the garbage floating along in a slick of something petroleum based. "Is it dangerous?"

"We aren't going to be drinking the water or eating anything we pull out of it. The ecosystem is likely damaged, how bad depends on the extent and chemical composition of the spill."

Her teacher had educated Ellie about various environmental dangers associated with mans consumption of fuel. All that nuclear radiation stuff scared the crap out of her. "We're not stopping anywhere near here right?"

"We're not stopping again until we've crossed the state line."

"How much longer will we be in South Dakota?"

This would have been the time Joel would warn Ellie not to start up again, but he was focused on something in the road ahead that caught his attention; sunlight gleaming off of chrome. He adjusted the focus on the binoculars. In the distance, barreling down the east bound lane and headed right for them was a black and chrome motorcycle and small pick up truck loaded up in the back with "We got hunters ahead! A truckload and a bike!"

Lily had hawkish vision and squinted ahead. She could make out the small shapes in the distance. "How many?"

There had to be a half dozen in the back. The hunters had put on speed and were racing their way. "A truckload and then some. Turn around!"

She could make out the shape of the truck and motorcycle ahead. Lily flicked her eyes over to the side mirror. "Behind us!"

Ellie spun in her seat and looked out the back window. "Holy shit!"

Joel counted "We got five bikes behind us."

"Fuck it," Lily slammed on the breaks. "Seatbelts now!"

Joel buckled in and grabbed his pack. "Ellie you keep your head down!"

Lily buckled up and took her foot off the brake. She pulled a one eighty as Joel dug bombs out of his bag and the hunters closed in on them. "Okay you fucks," Lily stomped on the gas. As she increased their speed Joel pulled two nail bombs from his bag.

"Keep it steady Lily!" he warned opening his door. He held it open with one arm and used the other to drop a few presents in the road for the hunters behind them. Gunshots ahead; Joel slammed the door closed looking up again and seeing how close the motorcycle mob was now. They were already taking shots at the truck, he freed El Diablo from its holster. "Ellie stay down!"

Something ricochet off the fender near Lily's door. "Motherfuckers!" A second later the windshield between Lily and Joel was aerated. "Fuck!" she swerved to the right a little. The shooting bikers were almost to them and the gunshots were coming more frequently. "Hold on to your fucking ass I'm going to part them like hair!"

Lily was playing chicken with some real psychos. "Lily!" but before Joel had a chance to say anything else it was happening. Two bikes broke left in time, two on the right as well, but the fifth rider was too slow to get out of the path of the speeding tonnage and Lily hit him. the bike and rider collided with the front left and were thrown into the guardrail. The Silverado shook off the impact, behind them one of his nail bombs went off. The hunters were reorganizing to give chase. Joel turned in his seat and saw "They're coming for us!"

Ellie dared a peek out the back window. Four motorcycles and a truckload of bad guys were perusing them, two bikes were catching up fast. "Oh fuck!"

"Ellie get down!" Joel barked unbuckling his seatbelt. He crawled into the back and slid open the back window. He put the business end of his gun through the cage. "Cover your ears!" he warned. Ellie did, but Lily the best Lily could do was lean toward the window. He got a motorcycle driver in his sights and pulled the trigger. The hunter jerked and went down dragging his bike with him. One of the bikes behind him got tangled up in the wreck and the rider was thrown into the concrete divider that separated the east and west highways. Next he took aim at the bike riding double catching up to the drivers side. The bikes passenger began shooting at the cab and everyone ducked.

"Fuck this!" Lily eased off the pedal just enough to bring the bike up to where she needed it and then she violently jerked the wheel. The truck bed fishtailed into the hunters knocking them off course, off balance and down into a skid. The passenger let go, but the driver was dragged across the asphalt with his bike.

He nearly went over when she pulled that stunt. "Godamnit Lily!"

"Be fucking useful and shoot something! Those bikes are on us, this tank only moves so fast and if they hit our tires we're fucked!"

Joel was up on his knees again in an instant firing El Diablo. The bikers moved in like a pack of wolves surrounding slow prey. He picked off another bike and rider in between dodging bullets the hunters were shooting at them. A pair on a bike gunned it and made a move to get to the drivers window. Joel moved quick to get El Diablo out Lily's window and take care of them before they shot the driver. The hunters looked up at him surprised, he put a bullet in the drivers forehead. The bike swerved, went right and crashed. Lily stayed focused on driving through it all. "Two more bikes and that fuckin truck."

In the rear view Lily saw the truck hanging back as the remaining two bikes raced to get up either side. ""Buckle in right now!"

Joel slid into his seat and clipped in as a bike came up on either side of the truck. The hunters opened fire on the cab. The back passengers side window exploded inward and Ellie screamed. Another bullet came through the open hole and went through the windshield in front of Lily. She turned away from flying glass, but the shrapnel still cut her cheek. "Lily?"

She tightened her grip on the wheel. "Hold on!" As a kid Lily had been fascinated with drifting cars, it was so much fun and it looked so cool and she had a bunch of buddies willing to teach her to _drive like a man_. Now a good time was going to save their asses. The curve to get off this fucking bridge was upon them. She let the momentum drift the truck to the starboard; the end of the bed collided with the bikers. At first it seemed to push them but in a second they were being flung over the corroded guardrail and into the water. The last bike was trying to get to the driver, shooting out the window right over Ellie's head. "Fuck you!" as the road began to straighten she forcefully jerked the wheel again. The bed kicked port hard and the bike slammed right into it. The passenger flew over the driver, the driver and bike separated and scattered across the highway. That took care of the fuckers on motorcycles, but the truckload of assholes was still coming. "That truck is still behind us!"

"Can we lose them?" Joel straightened and got a look around. "Ellie you alright?"

"I'm okay," Ellie was actually quite terrified. "Oh man I fucking hate bridges."

"Joel in my bag, two bombs. I'm getting off the interstate, drop them on the off ramp behind us. If they don't hit one they'll at least have to find another way to come after us."

He reached for her backpack. "Where we going?"

"We'll cross the river further north then get back on ninety further east of here."

"Can we outrun these guys?" Ellie pant tucked behind Lily's seat.

"I'll bet we have more gas in the tank then they do," Lily looked between the spider web cracks in the windshield. "We need to stop them, slow them down at least. We're going to keep going."

"We're going to run," Ellie nodded. "Yeah lets do that."

Joel liberated the bombs from Lily's bag and got it half zipped before she glided toward the off ramp. He quit fussing with Lily's backpack and got his door open again. He dropped one right at the entrance where there was no real getting around unless they went way over in the grass. He quickly undid his seatbelt and stood hanging out the door to throw the last bomb; it landed in the tall grass where the truck could pass the one on the road, they might not even see it before they drove into it. The truck was still coming, but they were descending, leaving the highway, escaping.

Lily had to slow even more to make the right turn at the end of the ramp. The hunters reached the onramp and their truck drove into the grass. As Lily turned the bomb went off beneath the truck of hunters as they drove right over it. The tire and everything around it was ravaged by the explosion halting the pursuers in their tracks. She didn't stop and kept putting on speed.

Joel looked back at the hunters before the overpass blocked his view. "They hit it good!"

"Yeah well we are the fuck out of here."

Ellie sat up cautiously. "Is it safe?"

He took a good look around. "I don't see anyone else out here with us, but lets keep our eyes open for the time being. Everyone alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." The girl took in the broken windows, she saw the blood on Lily's face. "Lily you're bleeding."

"It's nothing," she stayed focused on the road.

Joel focused on Lily's cheek. "Ellie hand me the first aid kit."

"Its just a scratch," Lily griped frowning.

"You're bleedin, let me get it stopped." Joel secured his gun and Ellie passed up the first aid kit. "Keep an eye out behind us."

"Okay." Ellie turned in her seat dumping chunks of broken glass onto the floor as she moved. "Man they got both windows back here."

"We'll stop and take care of the glass when its safe," Lily promised the girl in back.

Joel popped open the kit and took another look around. "I think we've left em in the dust. Their truck got tore up and who knows how many of those bikes are still drivable."

"We must consider the possibility that the bridge crew is only an advance guard. There could be more of them with transportation. I will continue to put distance between us at the highest speed this truck can handle for an hour minimum. They had no blockades on this side of the bridge, they're probably living in a residential district on the other side. Depending on how pissed they are and how much gas they have we could be followed, but I doubt more then fifty miles."

He pulled out gauze to clean the blood off her face. "Yeah well lets hope they don't follow." He leaned over and dabbed blood off her cheek. "These cuts are still weeping."

"Then just cover it and let me drive," she didn't mean to be so short with him, it just came out that way.

"Alright," Joel suspected the high of the fight had Lily on edge. He did his best to clean her up then secured a fresh piece of gauze to her cheek with white tape. "That feel okay?"

"Fine thanks," she tried not to sound so aggravated.

"I don't see anything behind us," Ellie hoped it would help calm the situation.

"You mind the glass back there with you Ellie," the father cautioned putting the tape away.

Her heart rate was returning to normal. "I am." Ellie watched out the window as Lily hurried them away from the bandits bridge. The girl was quietly impressed with her teachers mad driving skills and hoped drifting trucks would be worked into the curriculum.

Joel closed the first aid kit and looked at Lily. "That was a nice piece of drivin back there Lily."

"Foolish to bring a motorcycle up against a truck this heavy, stupid fuckers."

"We got lucky we fucked up their truck." He checked the side mirror to look back again. It was all clear. They were safe for the moment, but Joel agreed that they needed to put distance between themselves and the hunters. "We still gonna be able to make it to your hide addin on these extra miles?"

"We've got the gas."

"How long until we get there?" Ellie couldn't help but ask.

Lily answered "A couple hours."

"When you think its safe you go on and stop the truck so we can get a look at the damage," he shoved the first aid kit under his seat hoping the truck was fine. _Come on luck hold out a little longer._

3

Lily kept the truck rolling along at sixty for a little over an hour before Joel asked her to stop. They hadn't been followed, the hideout was still a few hours away. They piled out of the truck, the adults went to check the front end for damage. The drivers side headlight was broken and to Lily's dismay there was a piece of chrome sticking out of the grill. "Shit the radiator."

"Pop the hood," Joel moved to the front if the truck, Lily reached in through the drivers door and hit the release. Joel lifted the hood and looked to see how bad it was. "Got metal stickin out of the top of the radiator." He shook his head. The trucks temperature gage had been ever so slowly rising, now he knew why. "We got a slow leak."

Lily came around front with Ellie behind her. "How bad?"

"I aint pullin this thing out, then we'll just have a big hole."

"I've got some stop leak in the tool box."

"That be a temporary solution at best."

She sighed and brushed the hair away from her eyes. "Once we're back on ninety my place is about a hundred and fifty miles away. The truck has to make it there at least."

"This thing is going to need a radiator Lily."

"I've got eyes in my fucking head I can see that." She turned away and went for the toolbox. The rear quarter panels were scratched and dented.

Ellie looked at her pops. "Can we fix it?"

"Stop leak aint gonna last long."

"Can we find another radiator?"

He rubbed at his chin though his beard. "I can swap it out if I can find one." Lily came around with the container of chemicals. "I don't suppose you know of another dealership? Someplace we can get a new radiator?"

She set the bottle on the bumper. "Nothing close."

"Maybe we should double back."

Ellie raised her brows. "Hunters and infected? No way."

Joel nodded, his girl was right. "How about near your hideout?"

"I have a car there," Lily wiped her hand off on her pants. "Its small, but good on gas. Tires are bald though. It sucks in the rain but it does have all its glass."

"How long has it been sittin?"

"Two years."

_Great_. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "This is insane. We should just go back to Jackson."

"There isn't another car there."

"If you two insist on making this fool trip we can take horses!"

Ellie wanted no part of that. "No way, not horses again. Not all the way to New York."

"She's right. On horseback it will take too long."

Women were so frustrating. "Then we should go back to Jackson and stay there."

"We're not going back to Jackson," Lily got between them. "We'll baby this thing along and manage our transportation problem from a safe base camp."

"Fine," Joel stepped away from the truck.

Ellie looked at the container on the bumper. "Aren't you going to fix it?"

"The truck has to cool down before we take the cap off the radiator." Lily went back to the open door and reached in for the binoculars. "I'll keep watch."

"Come on Ellie, lets get that glass out of the back." He put a hand on her shoulder and asked her quietly "You alright?"

It made her so happy to have him care so much. "I'm good." She smiled at him and together they went to make the inside a little safer.

They let the truck cool before Lily added the stop leak and Joel topped off their gas tank. One of their containers had been shot through, fortunately it was empty. He resupplied his bag out of the gear box then snapped the cover back over the bed. Joel insisted on driving, he needed Lily to navigate and occupy Ellie if it became necessary. He didn't have the lead in his foot Lily did either. He kept them cruising along at about fifty following Lily's directions until South Dakota was in the rear view.


	8. Chapter 8

The Road

Chapter Eight

Joel continued on for another hour before he stopped them for lunch in another big empty part of the highway. There was a hill twenty feet from the blacktop, they climbed to the top to stretch their legs and spread their picnic lunch. From their vantage point they could see for miles around, nothing bothered them, the runners were far behind. Ellie was fully sick of talking about South Dakota and turned her mind to more interesting things. "What's this place we're going to like Lily? Is it a town?"

"Kind of, it's what we made it and they've done things to the place over the years. It was a vineyard on Cayuga Lake."

"Vineyard? Wine and grapes and all that?" Joel smiled at his fond memories of wine touring the year before Sara was born.

"Yes. It was a big wide open spot so we secured sections of it at a time. It's quite extensive now and it goes all the way out into the lake. There are a lot of RV's and trailers that got hauled in for people to make a home for themselves. It's not like they had the resources to build an apartment building, so they needed another way to introduce some housing. Everything good went into the walls."

Ellie asked, "Do you have one there? A trailer place?"

"Yes, a two bedroom with a small office near the lab. I'm sure its a disaster. I left crap all over the place," she sighed remembering the piles of paperwork still sitting on the dining table.

"Did you teach kids there too?"

"No I handled other things."

"Are there other kids there?"

"A few," Lily smiled at Ellie. "Karen is about your age."

The girl smiled back. "Another girl my age? Do you know her?"

"A little, I'm sure I can introduce you."

Joel had a few questions of his own. "Are Ellie and I staying with you? She aint gotta be in the hospital or some bullshit, right?"

"I can accommodate you at my place if a private residence isn't available."

"You gonna keep up with Ellie's lessons while we're there?"

"Of course."

Ellie looked at her guardians. "So even when I'm a lab rat I can't get a break from homework?"

Joel smiled at his girl. "Look on the bright side, you'll be out of South Dakota."

Lily shook her head and her student groaned. "You aren't going to be a lab rat Ellie. Richard will draw blood samples a few times a week, no big deal."

Ever since she heard the awful truth she couldn't help but wonder "What if he comes to the same conclusion the firefly doctors did?"

"He wont," Lily barely let her finish.

"How can you be so sure?"

"The firefly doctors are a bunch of butchers using lazy, half learned science. Richard was in his last year of residency when the shit hit the fan. He has been a _real_ doctor for twenty years and the guy is a genius. He's been set up studying the CBI for a little less then a decade."

He remembered what Tommy told him about the firefly doctors _butchers _screwing up with Lily. "What took the genius so long to get around to it?" Joel grumbled.

"Surviving the outbreak, finding a place to secure and securing it, running water, electricity, a proper lab," Lily could see his insecurity showing.

Ellie didn't want them fighting, they still had a lot of South Dakota to get through. "Studying how?"

"He's memorized the research that was done before things came to an abrupt stop, what different military scientists have and are doing in various quarantine zones. He's been conducting experiments on infected blood and tissue the past few years."

Dad straightened. "Do I even wanna know where he gets it? Please don't tell me he's keeping infected around."

"No, of course he's not. The infected are put down outside the wall, samples are taken in the field."

"You really think he's gonna find somethin in Ellie's blood to make a vaccine?"

"I do."

Her pops was frowning still skeptical, but Lily's confidence gave Ellie hope. "And if he makes a vaccine, we'll take a whole bunch back to uncle Tommy's right?"

"You bet we will," Joel finished his sweet tea.

"The vaccine and instructions for making more will be sent everywhere; quarantine zones, settlements on the outside. We'll be busy."

He shook his head at Lily. "We aint going nowhere but back to Jackson."

"I don't expect you to," Lily frowned right back.

"I'm including you in that we."

"I will take you back to Jackson when we're done in New York like I promised."

"And you'll fuckin stay there. You aint gonna go running around the countryside delivering medicine or whatever Lily. You can let your doctor's people handle that."

The f bomb was indicative Joel had something stuck in his crawl. "I am one of his people."

"Not after this. The way I see it you're helpin find the vaccine, bringin it right to his doorstep. That's enough. When this is over we are going home, all of us."

"I love how you think you can tell me what to do," Lily favored him with a patronizing smile. "Actually when we get back to Jackson setting up a lab there to make more of the vaccine will be my top priority, but thanks for getting all macho on me there Texas."

Joel rolled his eyes. _Here we go_. "I wasn't gettin macho and I'm lookin out for you."

"You can't order me around like I'm some overzealous, man pleasing housewife."

Ellie stopped their argument quick. "Wait, you guys are getting married?" They both turned and looked at her.

"Of course not, " Lily laughed sardonically. "Marriage is for suckers."

"Don't tell her that," Joel turned his frown back to Lily.

"Why not, its true."

"Not all the time it aint. I've known plenty of folks happily married. Tommy and Maria are doin alright. You don't gotta bad mouth marriage just because you're too scared to get hitched."

"Ha!" she laughed defensive. "I'm not scared I'm smart. I'm not going to listen to some swinging dick tell me what to do with my life."

Joel shook his head. "That aint what marriage is. It's a partnership."

"It's a chick trap. Stay home, have kids, do nothing with your life. Fuck that shit."

"Oh don't give me that bullshit. I was a single dad for eight years and I worked my ass off to provide for my kid."

Tommy had told Lily a lot about his life before the pandemic, he talked about Joel and Sara often. "I know you did. Tommy talked about the old days a lot, he really missed who you used to be."

Joel scowled _Oh really?_ He wondered "And just what did Tommy say?"

"He said that you were a great dad and that Sara was your world."

Ellie shifted on her knees as the adults stared each other down. "I think you're a great dad, I mean I know you're not my father, but..." Joel was looking at her. "You're a good dad, a little over protective, but still a good dad."

Her praise cooled the anger rising inside him. "Well I got a good kid making it easy for me, most times anyway," he gestured around at the wide open spaces.

It made her happy to be accepted as his daughter and Ellie smiled. "Well, I have to save the human race right?"

Lily decided to pack it up before the conversation had a chance to turn serious. She stood and stretched her back. "I'll drive for a while."

"Does that mean we can give history a break?" Ellie was hopeful.

"I guess for now."

"Cool. Can we listen to more music?"

"I think its time for some guitar."

Joel recalled what she said about rock and roll _that night_... "You aint gonna put on screaming rock are you?"

Lily smiled down at grumpy dad. "Screaming guitar."

_Great_. "Yeah we'll lets not have it screaming too loud."

Ellie stood and stretched. "I thought you like the guitar? You play one."

"I play acoustic country, Lily is talkin about electric squealing noises."

"Eddie Van Halen does _not_ make squealing noises." Lily put a fist on her hip.

"Yeah right." Joel stood up. "Alright, lets pick it up and get back on the road. New York aint gettin any closer with all of us just standin here."

They gathered their things and packed back into the truck. There was some backpack shuffling and settling in. Lily put in a cd bearing the name _Guitar Jams_. Joel sighed and sat back to listen to Van Halen.

2

Joel was pleased that the music wasn't all metal or rock, just most. Some of it was nothing but one long guitar solo. Lily identified different songs for Ellie, talked about the guitarists and different sources she had gathered the music from. Not all of it was rock bands. The soundtrack for something she called _FFAC_ had some heavy guitar tracks. The cd was cycling through the songs Lily had pulled off the OST when their first look at the water came up in their right side. "There's something for you to see Ellie."

She looked out her window first and then ahead. "Are we going to go over a bridge?"

"It's not up real high or anything," Lily assured her.

Ellie got a sinking feeling in her stomach. "I don't like bridges much."

Lily started around the curve that would take them out over the water. "We can see all the way to the other side."

"Joel, watch ahead."

"I am," he promised his girl.

"No, use the binoculars," Ellie pushed on his arm a little to get him moving.

"Alright, alright." Joel grabbed the binoculars off the dash and brought them up to his eyes. He had to adjust to seeing around the fence on the other side of the windshield; he looked down the long empty highway that came out a on a manmade peninsula and then out over open water before disappearing back into the hills. He was glad he didn't see any debris on the road, it looked solid for as far across as he could see.

Lily followed the curve out onto the bridge. _The Chase of Highway_ was a rockin tune, she bopped her head along to the guitar. She would have had it blaring, but Joel had insisted on a more moderate volume. The sun reflected off the water and Lily noticed the floating oil sheen the on the right. Humans were nearly extinct, but their pollution was still everywhere. "More shit leaking into the rivers," she shook her head.

Ellie looked out at the garbage floating along in a slick of something petroleum based. "Is it dangerous?"

"We aren't going to be drinking the water or eating anything we pull out of it. The ecosystem is likely damaged, how bad depends on the extent and chemical composition of the spill."

Her teacher had educated Ellie about various environmental dangers associated with mans consumption of fuel. All that nuclear radiation stuff scared the crap out of her. "We're not stopping anywhere near here right?"

"We're not stopping again until we've crossed the state line."

"How much longer will we be in South Dakota?"

This would have been the time Joel would warn Ellie not to start up again, but he was focused on something in the road ahead that caught his attention; sunlight gleaming off of chrome. He adjusted the focus on the binoculars. In the distance, barreling down the east bound lane and headed right for them was a black and chrome motorcycle and small pick up truck loaded up in the back with "We got hunters ahead! A truckload and a bike!"

Lily had hawkish vision and squinted ahead. She could make out the small shapes in the distance. "How many?"

There had to be a half dozen in the back. The hunters had put on speed and were racing their way. "A truckload and then some. Turn around!"

She could make out the shape of the truck and motorcycle ahead. Lily flicked her eyes over to the side mirror. "Behind us!"

Ellie spun in her seat and looked out the back window. "Holy shit!"

Joel counted "We got five bikes behind us."

"Fuck it," Lily slammed on the breaks. "Seatbelts now!"

Joel buckled in and grabbed his pack. "Ellie you keep your head down!"

Lily buckled up and took her foot off the brake. She pulled a one eighty as Joel dug bombs out of his bag and the hunters closed in on them. "Okay you fucks," Lily stomped on the gas. As she increased their speed Joel pulled two nail bombs from his bag.

"Keep it steady Lily!" he warned opening his door. He held it open with one arm and used the other to drop a few presents in the road for the hunters behind them. Gunshots ahead; Joel slammed the door closed looking up again and seeing how close the motorcycle mob was now. They were already taking shots at the truck, he freed El Diablo from its holster. "Ellie stay down!"

Something ricochet off the fender near Lily's door. "Motherfuckers!" A second later the windshield between Lily and Joel was aerated. "Fuck!" she swerved to the right a little. The shooting bikers were almost to them and the gunshots were coming more frequently. "Hold on to your fucking ass I'm going to part them like hair!"

Lily was playing chicken with some real psychos. "Lily!" but before Joel had a chance to say anything else it was happening. Two bikes broke left in time, two on the right as well, but the fifth rider was too slow to get out of the path of the speeding tonnage and Lily hit him. the bike and rider collided with the front left and were thrown into the guardrail. The Silverado shook off the impact, behind them one of his nail bombs went off. The hunters were reorganizing to give chase. Joel turned in his seat and saw "They're coming for us!"

Ellie dared a peek out the back window. Four motorcycles and a truckload of bad guys were perusing them, two bikes were catching up fast. "Oh fuck!"

"Ellie get down!" Joel barked unbuckling his seatbelt. He crawled into the back and slid open the back window. He put the business end of his gun through the cage. "Cover your ears!" he warned. Ellie did, but Lily the best Lily could do was lean toward the window. He got a motorcycle driver in his sights and pulled the trigger. The hunter jerked and went down dragging his bike with him. One of the bikes behind him got tangled up in the wreck and the rider was thrown into the concrete divider that separated the east and west highways. Next he took aim at the bike riding double catching up to the drivers side. The bikes passenger began shooting at the cab and everyone ducked.

"Fuck this!" Lily eased off the pedal just enough to bring the bike up to where she needed it and then she violently jerked the wheel. The truck bed fishtailed into the hunters knocking them off course, off balance and down into a skid. The passenger let go, but the driver was dragged across the asphalt with his bike.

He nearly went over when she pulled that stunt. "Godamnit Lily!"

"Be fucking useful and shoot something! Those bikes are on us, this tank only moves so fast and if they hit our tires we're fucked!"

Joel was up on his knees again in an instant firing El Diablo. The bikers moved in like a pack of wolves surrounding slow prey. He picked off another bike and rider in between dodging bullets the hunters were shooting at them. A pair on a bike gunned it and made a move to get to the drivers window. Joel moved quick to get El Diablo out Lily's window and take care of them before they shot the driver. The hunters looked up at him surprised, he put a bullet in the drivers forehead. The bike swerved, went right and crashed. Lily stayed focused on driving through it all. "Two more bikes and that fuckin truck."

In the rear view Lily saw the truck hanging back as the remaining two bikes raced to get up either side. ""Buckle in right now!"

Joel slid into his seat and clipped in as a bike came up on either side of the truck. The hunters opened fire on the cab. The back passengers side window exploded inward and Ellie screamed. Another bullet came through the open hole and went through the windshield in front of Lily. She turned away from flying glass, but the shrapnel still cut her cheek. "Lily?"

She tightened her grip on the wheel. "Hold on!" As a kid Lily had been fascinated with drifting cars, it was so much fun and it looked so cool and she had a bunch of buddies willing to teach her to _drive like a man_. Now a good time was going to save their asses. The curve to get off this fucking bridge was upon them. She let the momentum drift the truck to the starboard; the end of the bed collided with the bikers. At first it seemed to push them but in a second they were being flung over the corroded guardrail and into the water. The last bike was trying to get to the driver, shooting out the window right over Ellie's head. "Fuck you!" as the road began to straighten she forcefully jerked the wheel again. The bed kicked port hard and the bike slammed right into it. The passenger flew over the driver, the driver and bike separated and scattered across the highway. That took care of the fuckers on motorcycles, but the truckload of assholes was still coming. "That truck is still behind us!"

"Can we lose them?" Joel straightened and got a look around. "Ellie you alright?"

"I'm okay," Ellie was actually quite terrified. "Oh man I fucking hate bridges."

"Joel in my bag, two bombs. I'm getting off the interstate, drop them on the off ramp behind us. If they don't hit one they'll at least have to find another way to come after us."

He reached for her backpack. "Where we going?"

"We'll cross the river further north then get back on ninety further east of here."

"Can we outrun these guys?" Ellie pant tucked behind Lily's seat.

"I'll bet we have more gas in the tank then they do," Lily looked between the spider web cracks in the windshield. "We need to stop them, slow them down at least. We're going to keep going."

"We're going to run," Ellie nodded. "Yeah lets do that."

Joel liberated the bombs from Lily's bag and got it half zipped before she glided toward the off ramp. He quit fussing with Lily's backpack and got his door open again. He dropped one right at the entrance where there was no real getting around unless they went way over in the grass. He quickly undid his seatbelt and stood hanging out the door to throw the last bomb; it landed in the tall grass where the truck could pass the one on the road, they might not even see it before they drove into it. The truck was still coming, but they were descending, leaving the highway, escaping.

Lily had to slow even more to make the right turn at the end of the ramp. The hunters reached the onramp and their truck drove into the grass. As Lily turned the bomb went off beneath the truck of hunters as they drove right over it. The tire and everything around it was ravaged by the explosion halting the pursuers in their tracks. She didn't stop and kept putting on speed.

Joel looked back at the hunters before the overpass blocked his view. "They hit it good!"

"Yeah well we are the fuck out of here."

Ellie sat up cautiously. "Is it safe?"

He took a good look around. "I don't see anyone else out here with us, but lets keep our eyes open for the time being. Everyone alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." The girl took in the broken windows, she saw the blood on Lily's face. "Lily you're bleeding."

"It's nothing," she stayed focused on the road.

Joel focused on Lily's cheek. "Ellie hand me the first aid kit."

"Its just a scratch," Lily griped frowning.

"You're bleedin, let me get it stopped." Joel secured his gun and Ellie passed up the first aid kit. "Keep an eye out behind us."

"Okay." Ellie turned in her seat dumping chunks of broken glass onto the floor as she moved. "Man they got both windows back here."

"We'll stop and take care of the glass when its safe," Lily promised the girl in back.

Joel popped open the kit and took another look around. "I think we've left em in the dust. Their truck got tore up and who knows how many of those bikes are still drivable."

"We must consider the possibility that the bridge crew is only an advance guard. There could be more of them with transportation. I will continue to put distance between us at the highest speed this truck can handle for an hour minimum. They had no blockades on this side of the bridge, they're probably living in a residential district on the other side. Depending on how pissed they are and how much gas they have we could be followed, but I doubt more then fifty miles."

He pulled out gauze to clean the blood off her face. "Yeah well lets hope they don't follow." He leaned over and dabbed blood off her cheek. "These cuts are still weeping."

"Then just cover it and let me drive," she didn't mean to be so short with him, it just came out that way.

"Alright," Joel suspected the high of the fight had Lily on edge. He did his best to clean her up then secured a fresh piece of gauze to her cheek with white tape. "That feel okay?"

"Fine thanks," she tried not to sound so aggravated.

"I don't see anything behind us," Ellie hoped it would help calm the situation.

"You mind the glass back there with you Ellie," the father cautioned putting the tape away.

Her heart rate was returning to normal. "I am." Ellie watched out the window as Lily hurried them away from the bandits bridge. The girl was quietly impressed with her teachers mad driving skills and hoped drifting trucks would be worked into the curriculum.

Joel closed the first aid kit and looked at Lily. "That was a nice piece of drivin back there Lily."

"Foolish to bring a motorcycle up against a truck this heavy, stupid fuckers."

"We got lucky we fucked up their truck." He checked the side mirror to look back again. It was all clear. They were safe for the moment, but Joel agreed that they needed to put distance between themselves and the hunters. "We still gonna be able to make it to your hide addin on these extra miles?"

"We've got the gas."

"How long until we get there?" Ellie couldn't help but ask.

Lily answered "A couple hours."

"When you think its safe you go on and stop the truck so we can get a look at the damage," he shoved the first aid kit under his seat hoping the truck was fine. _Come on luck hold out a little longer._

3

Lily kept the truck rolling along at sixty for a little over an hour before Joel asked her to stop. They hadn't been followed, the hideout was still a few hours away. They piled out of the truck, the adults went to check the front end for damage. The drivers side headlight was broken and to Lily's dismay there was a piece of chrome sticking out of the grill. "Shit the radiator."

"Pop the hood," Joel moved to the front if the truck, Lily reached in through the drivers door and hit the release. Joel lifted the hood and looked to see how bad it was. "Got metal stickin out of the top of the radiator." He shook his head. The trucks temperature gage had been ever so slowly rising, now he knew why. "We got a slow leak."

Lily came around front with Ellie behind her. "How bad?"

"I aint pullin this thing out, then we'll just have a big hole."

"I've got some stop leak in the tool box."

"That be a temporary solution at best."

She sighed and brushed the hair away from her eyes. "Once we're back on ninety my place is about a hundred and fifty miles away. The truck has to make it there at least."

"This thing is going to need a radiator Lily."

"I've got eyes in my fucking head I can see that." She turned away and went for the toolbox. The rear quarter panels were scratched and dented.

Ellie looked at her pops. "Can we fix it?"

"Stop leak aint gonna last long."

"Can we find another radiator?"

He rubbed at his chin though his beard. "I can swap it out if I can find one." Lily came around with the container of chemicals. "I don't suppose you know of another dealership? Someplace we can get a new radiator?"

She set the bottle on the bumper. "Nothing close."

"Maybe we should double back."

Ellie raised her brows. "Hunters and infected? No way."

Joel nodded, his girl was right. "How about near your hideout?"

"I have a car there," Lily wiped her hand off on her pants. "Its small, but good on gas. Tires are bald though. It sucks in the rain but it does have all its glass."

"How long has it been sittin?"

"Two years."

_Great_. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "This is insane. We should just go back to Jackson."

"There isn't another car there."

"If you two insist on making this fool trip we can take horses!"

Ellie wanted no part of that. "No way, not horses again. Not all the way to New York."

"She's right. On horseback it will take too long."

Women were so frustrating. "Then we should go back to Jackson and stay there."

"We're not going back to Jackson," Lily got between them. "We'll baby this thing along and manage our transportation problem from a safe base camp."

"Fine," Joel stepped away from the truck.

Ellie looked at the container on the bumper. "Aren't you going to fix it?"

"The truck has to cool down before we take the cap off the radiator." Lily went back to the open door and reached in for the binoculars. "I'll keep watch."

"Come on Ellie, lets get that glass out of the back." He put a hand on her shoulder and asked her quietly "You alright?"

It made her so happy to have him care so much. "I'm good." She smiled at him and together they went to make the inside a little safer.

They let the truck cool before Lily added the stop leak and Joel topped off their gas tank. One of their containers had been shot through, fortunately it was empty. He resupplied his bag out of the gear box then snapped the cover back over the bed. Joel insisted on driving, he needed Lily to navigate and occupy Ellie if it became necessary. He didn't have the lead in his foot Lily did either. He kept them cruising along at about fifty following Lily's directions until South Dakota was in the rear view.


	9. Chapter 9

The Road

Chapter Nine

They got off the interstate and headed south; they passed an old John Deer dealership and a drive in movie theatre whose screen still stood against the elements. They were only in Minneapolis for a few minutes before the road took them into Iowa. Soon Lily directed him off onto a rural road with plenty of twists and turns. She gestured for him to take a right down a long stretch surrounded by overgrown fields. At the end of the road nestled in a border of trees sat Lily's hideout. There was a big old farmhouse, a garage, hay barn and Motron building surrounded by makeshift stockade fence with razor wire on top. Joel pulled up to the gate going across the driveway. Lily hopped out to undo the combination lock and open the gate. She opened it wide and he drove through; Lily locked up behind them and pointed to the big garage sitting across from the house.

Joel stopped in front of the garage and put the truck in park. "Sit tight for a minute Ellie." He got out and closed his door behind him. "Why don't we get a look around? Place looks like all your defenses are in place, but I'd feel better if we checked it all out."

"Alright but lets pull the truck into the garage first. We need to shut it off." Lily went to the garage door while Joel asked Ellie through the broken window to pull the truck up. She pulled up the garage door about a foot and then Joel was there helping her push it up out of the way. Lily was surprised her Toyota was gone and in its place was an Jeep Cherokee spray painted in green camouflage colors. "The fuck?"

"I thought you said you had a small car?" Joel moved with Lily to be out of Ellie's way.

"Yeah I did." Lily went to the SUV, there was a note under the windshield wiper addressed to her. She freed the folded slip of paper and read

_Lily,_

_Needed something with better gas mileage. Jeep runs great but needs an oil change! Going to Kentucky, its June 18th. Left you something inside. _

_Love you,_

_Dean_

"Tsh, he took my car."

"Who did what now?" he asked as Ellie pulled in next to them.

"I'm not the only one who uses these safe houses. An old partner of mine took the car and left me this. Says it runs but it needs an oil change," she sighed folding up the note.

"An old partner?"

"I used to set up safe houses and shit with him." Lily opened the drivers door of the Jeep as Ellie shut off the truck. "Keys are in it."

Ellie got out and joined her guardians. "Is this our new ride? It looks pretty sweet." She opened the back door and looked at all the room in there. "Nice."

Lily pulled the keys out of the ignition and pocketed them. She looked back at Joel. "Lets walk the perimeter then we'll deal with the vehicles."

He was a little unnerved others used this hideout and helped themselves to Lily's things. "Alright. Ellie you stay where I can see you." He drew El Diablo and started out of the garage with Lily behind him.

While the adults did their military sweep Ellie went out in front of the garage and looked at the house. All of the windows on the ground floor and basement had been boarded over long ago to keep out the infected. The white paint was flaking off the wood siding in many places, ivy had grown up the chimney. There were solar panels on the roof, Ellie hoped that meant the place had electricity. She was dieing for a hot shower.

She looked over the fence around the yard; the place looked pretty safe to her. Once Joel was satisfied they were safe and alone he led Lily back Ellie's way. "Are we good?"

"Haven't checked the house yet," Joel reminded.

Lily started for the house. "There's only one way in when its locked up. Where's the ladder?"

"Here," he saw it in the tall grass beside the barn and went to it. "Where you need it?"

She pointed to a window on the second floor. "We leave that one unlocked."

Joel carried the ladder over for Lily and leaned it up against the house. "You sure you don't want me go in there first, just in case?"

"I got it." She sidestepped and got on the ladder. Lily went up and forced the old dry rotting window open. A second later she disappeared inside.

"Lily?"

She poked her head out. "Go around to the front door I'll let you in."

He turned from the window to his girl. "Come on then." Ellie followed him to the door, a minute later it creaked on its hinges as Lily opened it from the inside.

"Come on in," Lily stepped aside.

Ellie was looking everywhere all at once. The downstairs had a big open floor plan. "Wow, look at this place."

"I have to throw the breaker, but we do have electricity here in the house at least."

"No light in the garage though?" Joel was thinking about the two vehicles sitting in there."

Lily shook her head. "House and fence was all we could manage with what we've got here."

"Then maybe I outta go start that Jeep up and see what it sounds like. If it's gonna need some maintenance I better check it over while I still got light."

She fished the keys out of her pocket. "Okay. Ellie why don't we get our stuff out of the truck. There's four bedrooms upstairs, mine is at the top on the left, you can take whatever other room you want."

"Does this place have hot water?" Ellie asked hopeful.

Lily tossed Joel the keys. "I'll go get the power on. Water will be hot in no time."

"Yes!" Ellie clapped her hands together. She was getting good vibes here, they were safe and it was a great place to take a break from the road. "I'll help with dinner."

2

Joel got busy evaluating their new ride, Lily was beside him injecting her opinions and suggestions along the way. Ellie took her backpack up to the room with a boring view of a field and pulled the dust cover off the double bed in there. She left it on the floor by the closet, dropped her backpack in the chair by the bed then went to explore the downstairs. The kitchen was huge, the clock on the stove flashed 12:00 in unset green. Ellie noticed the coffee maker by the sink and smiled.

There was a table big enough to seat eight in the dining room. In the center of the table sat a vase full of dead flowers. Ellie got closer and saw the flowers were lilies. Beside the vase was another piece of folded over paper with _Lily_ scripted on it in black pen. Ellie looked around to double check she was alone in the house and then she picked up the note.

_Lilies for my flower girl. Missing you. I left you a vid on the desktop of our laptop up in our room._

_Love you, Dean_.

"Uh oh," it just sort of slipped out. Ellie folded the note back over and looked at the way the Dean guy had written Lily's name. "Our room? Love you? Who the hell is this guy? I thought she said partner not boyfriend." She set the note down and backed away from the Dean leavings. A secret boyfriend was bad news. "There has to be an explanation right?"

Ellie was pretty sure that Joel was one of those jealous guy types; he wanted to beat up Kyle's dad for touching Lily, _did_ beat up Uncle Tommy for breaking up him and Lily. If some mystery boyfriend were to suddenly show up "Things could get hostile," Ellie nodded to herself. She was going to have to do something about this, there was no way she was going to let Lily hide a boyfriend no matter how much she liked her. Ellie went back over to the garage. The adults were looking under the hood of the truck. "Uh..."

Lily looked up at Ellie. "Did you pick a room?"

"Yeah. Um, Lily, is your car thieving partner a guy named Dean by any chance?"

She blinked at the girl rocking nervously in her sneakers. "Yes, but I don't think I said so."

"He left you flowers and a love note on the dining room table."

"What?" Joel straightened nearly hitting his head.

"What?" Lily was aghast.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Ellie pressed.

"N-no," Lily pulled herself together.

Ellie wasn't done. "Was he?"

Lily stood with her mouth open for a few seconds. "It was a long time ago and its not something open to discussion."

"So you're sharing this place with your ex?" Joel was irritated.

"Not like _that_," Lily scoffed back at him.

The note had said "He called your room _our room_."

"That's where the captain of the team sleeps," Lily justified easily. "Look, he's still doing a lot of running around out here. The note on the Jeep was only a few months old. I don't really need to use this place seeing as how I now live in Jackson, but I used to even after Dean and I went separate ways."

"And he leaves you love letters and flowers how nice." Joel clapped road dust off his hands.

"We don't hate each other. Our romantic separation was amicable and we were able to continue working together without it being a problem."

Ellie frowned suspicious. "Meaning?"

"Meaning we put the past behind us and moved on."

Joel snort a laugh. "So you are capable."

Lily turned on Joel. "Don't, don't compare the two of you like that."

There was a whole lot of hurt in Lily's eyes. _What did he do to you Lily?_ "Is there somethin I need to know about this guy?"

"I've already told you what you need to know." Lily stepped away from the truck. "I'm going to start some dinner."

He watched Lily walk away with a frown on his face. He wondered if Dean was one of the bad men from Lily's past that Tommy was talking about. "What the fuck," he grumbled under his breath.

Ellie puffed out a big breath. "Good. At least Dean isn't a secret boyfriend she's got on the side. She already kicked him to the curb."

His frown went to his daughter. "What did you..." he stepped back from the truck. "What were you doing reading things addressed to Lily huh?"

"It was sitting there on the table. Once I saw it I couldn't unsee it and once I read it, well, I was worried that he and Lily might be..." she trailed off and looked at the oil stains on the floor.

"That aint your business Ellie."

"No, but its yours and you are my business."

She was right, it made it harder to discipline. "Still don't make it right."

"So I guess you don't wanna know what it said."

His girl gave him the stink eye. "Come on then, spill it."

"He said he missed her and called her his flower girl and left a video on their laptop in _our room_ and he signed it 'love you'," Ellie's voice rose and fell.

"I see."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Nothin."

"Nothing?!"

"I aint gonna pester Lily about her ex."

Ellie was in disbelief. "What the fuck Joel? The guy signs his shit loveyou to your girlfriend and you're cool with that?"

"You don't understand the way things are."

"I thought you wanted Lily to be with us, like a family."

He went to his girl to reassure her, poor Ellie looked confused. "Ellie, things between me and Lily are still a little tense right now. Its certainly no time to be getting on her case about some guy she dated before she even came to Jackson, even if they share hideouts, no matter how he signs his notes because that is on him. Understand?"

"What if this guy still loves her?"

"Well, tough shit for him. We're going to New York for a while then we're going back to Jackson, all of us."

"All of us."

"Lily needs some time Ellie. We're talkin, gettin along, but she called me a dick when we was arguing about the music."

Ellie nodded. "Yeah and a fuckwit too."

"Yeah, great. My point is she's still upset and I aint gonna go pokin a hornets nest. If her and this feller stayed friends after they split then fine. If he's still pining for her too bad, so is Tommy and I can deal with that fuckwit just fine."

She smiled when he called uncle Tommy fuckwit. "You'll beat up Dean too huh?"

"I don't see why I'd have too, but if it became necessary." He cracked his knuckles and Ellie laughed away her worry. "I thought you was gonna help Lily fix dinner?"

"I did say that didn't I? Crap. You think Lily is mad at me?"

"I think you're gonna go find out."

"Aren't you coming?"

"Nope. I'm gonna set the oil to draining. You go on inside and help Lily."

Fear froze her in place for a moment. "What if she's mad at me and yells?"

"Then I'd say you reap what you sew and maybe next time you wont get all nosey and read somebody else's letters."

"Right," Ellie frowned at his smug parenting then turned to go inside.

Dad watched her go in to face the music and shook his head. She meant well, she wanted the three of them to be a family even more then Joel had suspected. He hopped into the drivers seat and plugged the key into the ignition to start the Jeep. He wanted to turn it around so it was facing out of the garage and a three point turn in the grass gave him the opportunity to test the brakes. He tried not to worry about Dean the ex partner and got busy draining the oil.

3

Ellie stepped cautiously into the kitchen. She had noticed the flowers and note were gone off the dining room table. Lily was washing the dust out of a few pots and pans. "Can I help?"

Lily rinsed a big pot. "I need rice and chicken bullion," she nodded toward the box on the counter.

"Okay." Ellie went to the box and retrieved the items. She brought them to the kitchen island. "Are you mad at me Lily?"

She set the pot under the tap to fill and faced the girl. "Reading my note was rude and inquiring about my adult relationships was inappropriate Ellie."

"I...it was just sitting there so I took a quick peek and then I saw what it said and I started freaking out thinking 'well shit maybe Lily's got this guy on the side and Joel doesn't know' and I panicked!"

Lily had to hold back the smile. Ellie was quite animated when she was excited. "I see."

"I'm sorry Lily really I am. I just... I worry about Joel. I know how much he likes you."

"I'm not a wild player that strings men along for fun."

Ellie blinked at her teacher as her cheeks burned. "I know that, but they all still fall for you Lily. Uncle Tommy, this Dean guy and Joel." Her teacher shook her head but Ellie held her ground. "You guys might be too chicken shit to say you love each other, but I see the way he looks at you. I see the way you look at him too , well, when you're not pissed off and you think nobody is paying attention."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

It was possible Ellie was right; Lily hadn't forgiven Joel, but what she felt for him hadn't disappeared it was just being repressed. Lily sighed. "There's some herbs in a raised bed out front. Why don't you go see if there's any basil?"

They both had given each other something to think about. "Sure." Ellie turned and went to collect herbs.

Lily went back to the sink and shut the water. She looked between the boards and out the window. She could see that Joel had moved the Jeep. It was up on the ramps and he was underneath it pulling the plug to drain the oil. "You're nothing like him, right?" She put the water on the stove to boil and got on with preparing dinner.

4

Joel was losing the light so he quit the truck and closed up the garage for the night. He went into the house, the smell of cooking food preceded the kitchen. Ellie was setting the dining table and smiled up at him when he came in. He took it as a good sign all was well in here. "Smells good in here."

"Dinner is almost ready. Go wash up."

He passed into the kitchen and went to the sink. "Lily," he greeted her as she stirred vegetables into chicken and rice.

"Everything go alright with the Jeep?"

"I got the oil changed." He used the dish soap to lather up. "Started pokin around under the hood, everything looked like it was in decent shape."

"I wish I knew what kind of gas mileage it got. We wont be able to carry that much gas in that thing."

"Well, one of our tanks got shot up anyway."

"No way to fit any of the cage over the Jeep either. Its all the wrong shapes." Lily shut the stove and moved the wok over to a cool burner.

Joel rinsed up to his elbows. "Both the headlights work, we can drive at night when we have too."

"I'll check some of my maps after dinner, figure out where else we can stop for gas if we need to." Lily offered him a towel as he shut the water. He turned to her and took it.

"You outta let me take care of those cuts on your face first." He dried his hands.

"I'll take care of it after I shower. I told Ellie she could go first."

"Everything alright with you two?"

"Everything is fine," Lily smiled a little. "She was making sure I wasn't playing you."

That made him smile too. "Ellie's got her own ideas about how we outta be."

"She thinks were in love."

"It could happen easy enough."

"Her adolescent mind coming to that conclusion or the emotional exchange between us?"

"Yup," he laughed and tossed the towel up onto the counter. "Dinner ready?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yes, it is." She picked up the wok and paddle and started for the dining table. Joel followed.

5

After dinner Ellie and Joel cleared the table, Lily dug out her road atlas and an accompanying notebook. The girl went to take a hot shower and the adults sat at the table looking over their route. "I wasn't planning on stopping again to resupply until we were in Ohio. We've got a place in the 'berbs fifteen minutes over the state line."

"We?"

"Those of us that use these places," she waved a hand at the dining room.

"And who's 'those of us'?" he leaned back in his chair watching her.

"Me, Dean, Will, Andrea; if we're all still alive."

"Are they all old partners of yours?"

"We've all worked together on and off over the past dozen years or so."

"It's a long drive between here and the Ohio state line. If we drive straight through we wont be able to avoid night driving."

Lily nodded. Summer was ending, the sunset came a little earlier each day. "At least the headlights work. I'm still not happy about not having a cage over the windows, but what the fuck can I do right?" She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "What's left to do with the Jeep?"

"It seems all set but I wouldn't mind takin a test drive before we just assume its gonna make it all the way to New York."

She didn't believe Dean would leave her with a shitty vehicle, but she understood Joel needed to sooth himself. "Alright, take it out in the morning, make sure its good. When you get back we'll pack up and go."

He sipped some water from his tinted green Coke glass and nodded. "We can get on the road about nine. Get to your next place when?"

"It's about a twelve hour ordeal. Ellie is going to hate it I'm sure, but we can get from there to Vineland in one more drive a thon."

"Vineland? That's what you call the doc's place?"

Shrugging her shoulders she admitted "It's appropriate."

"Two more long days on the road and we're done huh? Sounds good to me. I want us to get Ellie someplace safe as soon as possible."

"We're safe here tonight."

"It's not your hideouts I'm worried about, its the godamn road. There's still a whole lot of highway between us and wine country. Fuckin hunters and infected, I hope today wasn't a preview of what's to come."

"I've never seen anyone there before," she frowned a little remembering the bridge.

He set his glass on the table. "Yeah well ya never saw any infected at the gas stop either and there were clickers inside."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Are you going to hold me accountable for all motion in the universe? I don't know where those hunters came from, the runners were a group being led by fireflies. That part of ninety had been safe for a while, I guess its not anymore."

"Fireflies?" Joel felt something cold run down his spine.

"I saw an armband."

"What are the fireflies doin out here?"

"They were probably on their way to Salt Lake."

For a long moment Lily just stared at him. "You should know Marlene lost most of her buddies getting out of Boston and trekking across the country."

"How many guys from Boston did you kill?"

He frowned at her. "Maybe none."

"Just Marlene."

"Probably."

She dropped her eyes to the atlas, it lay open on Ohio. It occurred to her he could be telling the truth. "Traveling in a big group is more dangerous. Marlene should have known better, about a lot of things apparently."

"The military was all over them when we left the QZ. I reckon she lost most of her men right in Boston."

"One bad decision after another. That's why I couldn't say in Boston, the fucking stupid were in charge."

"That's the way I saw it." He was no fan of the Fireflies and never had been.

Lily knew Joel and Tommy fought about little brother joining the rebels. "Not all of the fireflies were as incompetent as the Boston chapter."

"I hope not. As fucked up as they are they're the last shot we got at restoring government. Martial law aint no way to live."

"Things will change once we can inoculate against CBI. We'll be able to spread out a little again."

"I hope so, either way Jackson is still gonna be home."

She looked up at Joel, he was relaxed thinking of home. "Yeah."

Joel smiled a little. "What you're not gonna argue with me?"

"No, Jackson is home now. I'm needed there."

"You sure are."

Lily got up. "I think I'll see if there's any booze left in this place. You want a drink?"

They were tucked in safe for the night. "Sure why not."

"I'll see what I can find."

6

Flowers and videos aside, there were other things Dean frequently left for Lily to find. She had a fondness for the diamond grape and whenever he came across diamond wine he grabbed it for her. He left two bottles up on the desk by the laptop in their room. Lily put them in the freezer to chill and then took her own hot shower.

Ellie watched _Pirates of the Caribbean_ with Joel and Lily caught the end with them. The girl patched Lily up as per her first aid instructions. Lily drank her wine from a pretty glass, but Joel wouldn't be caught dead with a dainty thing in his hand and drank his white wine out of his Coke glass. When the movie was over Ellie went up to her room for some quiet time alone. She wasn't looking forward to being stuck in the back of the Jeep for twelve hour stretches, but at least New York was getting closer. She wanted to finish _Sounder_ and stretch out in bed.

Joel was last in line for the shower and he went to it. Lily turned things off downstairs leaving only the nightlight on in the living room. She went up to her room and turned on her laptop. She left the nights last glass of diamond beside it. While it loaded she pulled a nightshirt from a familiar drawer and changed for bed. Lily plugged in the headphones and sat at the desk. She popped the ear buds in and double clicked the video on the desktop to view Dean's message. The window opened and she saw Dean sitting in this very chair talking into the camera at the top of the screen.

"Hey Lily, how you doin'?" he did his best Joey impersonation for her. Months later it made her smile. "I'm here with Ricky, Bev and Joe. Going back to Kansas. Delivering a big ol' stash of antibiotics and shit to that town my brother lives in." He paused to drink from the dull metal flask that had been his fathers. Dean had the habit of drinking and smoking left handed when he used the computer. When he brought his hand up Lily saw the silver band on his ring finger. She shook her head a little and Dean went on. He looked into the camera. "Where are you Lily? It's been two years and all I've got from you were two notes about a fuckin car and the pot you left me. What the fuck? I heard you've been running people west of here. Didn't Tommy go out that way? You go running back to your bff or what?" Dean sighed and downed another shot. "I thought you said you weren't going to run away?" He looked up into the camera again. "Open the drawer in the kneehole."

Lily leaned back and opened the drawer. Wrapped inside several plastic baggies was a quarter ounce of something nice and a green glass pipe. "Not bad."

"That ought to make you happy for a while," Dean smiled on the screen. "Like I said, we're going to Kentucky for a bit. Gonna pass this way again probably September. If by some amazing chance you find this before I come back there then leave me a message where you're gonna be. Its one thing not seeing you, its another not knowing if you're even the fuck alive anymore." He took another drink and leaned back in his chair looking at the camera. "John Ross is doing good, living with his grandparents in Virginia now. I saw him two months ago. He's getting really big."

By her calculations JR was now six. Lily found a lighter in the drawer and sparked the bowl as Dean drank onscreen.

"I want to see you. I want to talk to you about all kinds of things. Ricky's a good number one, but he aint you. Nobody is you. I thought we were cool Lily so why am I getting the silent treatment huh? What fuckin stupid thing did I do this time? At least leave me a message telling me what the fuck is wrong. I can't fix it if I don't know its broken." He took another drink and leaned in toward the camera. "Talk to me Lily. Come on, talk to me. You know you wanna talk to me even if its just to tell me what a dick you think I am." He smiled again and took another shot. "If I don't hear from you I'm gonna hunt you down and if I can't find you I'll find the fucker that did you in and kill him." For a long moment he stared into the camera. "I hope to hear from you soon Lily. I love you." He reached forward and the recording stopped.

Lily exhaled a cloud of smoke and closed the media player. She supposed she could leave him a quick message, enough to keep him from coming to look for her. Lily pulled the buds out of her ears and unplugged them. She scrolled and clicked and started recording her response. "Hey Dean. Thanks for the weed and the wine. I've been busy out west, Wyoming with Tommy for about a year. On my way back to Vinland with a father and daughter in tow. I'll be back east for a while so just chill the fuck out and take it easy. I'm sure we'll run into each other sooner or later. Stay safe." Lily stopped filming and saved the clip to the desktop. She closed the program and stared at the background image for a minute. She navigated to a folder called _sleep_ and set the music to play on a soothing volume.

Media player was cycling through Bear McCreary's compositions when there was a knock on her door. She tucked the paraphernalia in the drawer, closed it and called "It's open."

Joel cracked the door and stepped in. "I smell reffer."

Lily smiled. "You in?"

"Is Ellie asleep?"

"All dark and quiet in her room."

He closed the door behind him. "Alright then." Lily got into the drawer as Joel came over and sat on the edge of the bed. As she turned to offer him a pipe and lighter he noticed she was wearing nothing but one of those long t shirts ladies slept in. "I didn't mean to intrude. I was just wondering if there was anything else that needed checking before bed." He examined what she handed him.

"We're all good. I can set an alarm to get us up early."

"What time is the sun coming up?" he smoked, it was rich.

"Around six."

Joel exhaled and handed it back. "I can take the alarm in with me so you can sleep in."

"I don't mind getting up. I can always nap while you drive if I need too."

He watched her smoke a little distracted by all the leg Lily had showing. "I'll drive first that way if you wanna do any studies with Ellie to keep her occupied for a while that'd be good." He took the pipe again.

"We will be in Iowa for a long time," Lily concurred. "You drive through it, I'll take us the rest of the way to our next stop."

"Sounds like a good plan." He beat it and passed it back. "It's cashed."

Lily already had a buzz and she smiled amused. "Well then I'll just have to remedy that." She turned the chair to pack another.

"How you feelin? Your face alright?"

"Ellie fixed me up, I'm good." Lily had two Band-Aids covering the cuts.

"We're lucky nobody got shot the way those assholes were shooting at us. Truck took a good beating. Its a shame to lose the cargo space, but the Jeeps got nice interior, should be comfortable."

She turned back to Joel to give him the green hit rolling the office chair a little closer to the bed. "At least all of our crap will be within reach."

"We can get out the windows too." He took the pipe and lighter. Joel took a big green hit, the stuff was good and it left him coughing. Lily started laughing as he shoved the paraphernalia back at her. Joel reached behind him and grabbed a pillow and coughed into it. He didn't want to wake Ellie with his hacking; Lily thought it was hilarious and laughed into a loose fist. His throat was burning, his eyes were watering, but he brought himself under control. "Godamn."

Lily offered him her wine, he took the glass and sipped a little. "You better watch yourself with this stuff, its potent."

"Is that why you look Chineese," he teased.

"That's racially insensitive."

"Really?" the big hit had left him smiling.

"How do you know my family isn't Asian?"

"'cause you got ginny written all over you, temper to match."

Lily lifted her brows. "Oh really?"

Joel chuckled. "Tommy told me. He's got a thing for women you don't want to see angry."

"You don't want to see me angry?" she hit it again and held it out to him.

She took the glass and he took the pipe. "Naw. I don't want you made at me no more Lily." They stared at each other through the smoke she exhaled.

"I'm not mad at you Joel."

"At this moment or in general?"

Lily smiled a little. "I can't stay mad at you for something I would have done myself, but that doesn't mean I'm over you keeping the shit from me."

"I get it." He gently hit the bowl, Lily sipped her wine and then set the glass on the desk.

"You're not keeping anything else from me are you?"

It was beat again, he leaned past Lily and set the pipe and lighter on the desk next to her glass of wine. Leaning past her he could smell her flowery scents. He sank back down on the bed and looked at Lily. "Maybe Ellie's right. Maybe I am falling you so hard and fast that I just keep makin a damn fool of myself. Jeff Jacobs, Tommy. I guess I was jealous."

Lily hadn't been expecting this sort of revelation. She blinked at him surprised. "Uhh.."

He smiled. "Yeah I know right. I must be stoned." He laughed a little and Lily got laughing with him.

"Must be."

Joel reached over and took Lily's chin in his hand. He turned her head and looked at her bandages. "You sure you alright there Earnhardt?"

She remembered the racers and smiled. "I'm fine redneck." She grabbed his hand to move it away from her face, he slipped her hand into his and held on.

"There might be one more thing I'm keeping from you Lily," he pulled her closer on her rolling chair.

"Oh yeah what's that?" Lily suspected where this was going, but didn't move to stop it.

"I really wanna kiss you."

"You are so totally high," she couldn't help but laugh.

Joel laughed too. "I totally am. This is not the same shit you had in the joint last night."

Lily shrugged smiling, he shook his head at her with a smile on his face. She thought about it for a moment and then "Alright, do it."

"What?"

"Kiss me. Let's see if there's still something there."

He knew there was and Joel pulled Lily over to sit beside him on the bed. "What I feel hasn't changed Lily. If anything it just keeps gettin stronger." He pulled Lily close and showed her with his kiss.

It was as if all the days between now and their last kiss had been a bad dream. This is what was right, this is what made them both happy. She had missed his arms around her, the way he held her close to feel him against her. His lips left hers and he looked down into her eyes. "Joel..."

"I reckon its still there. What are we gonna do about it?"

"I don't know," she answered tired of the fight.

"We can start over Lily, the future is a clean slate."

"It is, isn't it," she smiled for him and he smiled back.

"We could settle into a place together in Vinland, see how living like family works out."

He was as hopeful as he was serious. "Live together? Just like that?"

"Yup, just like that."

"Cocky aren't you Texas?"

"I don't want to let you go Lily. Not tonight, not any night."

_A second chance it is_. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Then stay with me." She leaned into him and they were kissing again. It didn't take long for his hands to find their way under her nightshirt. They made love as the symphony echoed from the laptop.

7

The alarm went off at 5:50, Joel reached over and slapped the snooze button. He pulled Lily to him as she stirred waking. "Ten more minutes," he grumbled still half asleep.

Lily threw an arm and leg over Joel and cuddled up. "M'kay."

He liked the feel of his woman up against him, skin on skin. It gave him other ideas about how to spend ten minutes. He smiled in the dim and rubbed Lily's smooth back with one hand. He was on the verge of drifting back down to sleep when he felt her hand run up his chest to his shoulder. It sent a shiver down his spine; he took her hand and kissed her wrist. "Lily?"

"Hmm?"

Joel rolled them so that he was on top of her. "Lily," he kissed her neck.

She was tickly in the morning and she giggled ."Joel!" His lips met hers and they were at it again. They got out of bed around seven, Lily went downstairs and he went to his room for clean clothes. After they both readied for their day they met in the kitchen for coffee before he went to test drive the Jeep and Lily cooked up some pancakes.

Joel stood at the counter drinking his coffee watching Lily stir up batter. He couldn't resist her little wiggle and set his mug down. He hooked an arm around Lily from behind, she turned to face him. "You are so sexy when you're making pancakes you know that?"

Lily laughed and wrapped her arms around him. "Are you hungry Joel?" she teased.

"Oh yeah," he pulled her to him and kissed her.

Ellie had heard the adults up and walking around. Apparently they didn't hear her come down the stairs because when she walked into the kitchen Joel and Lily were _totally_ _sucking face_. The girl stopped short and her jaw fell. "Jesus Christ keep it PG in the _public_ kitchen would ya?"

The kissing couple startled and Joel turned quick. "Ellie?"

She totally had them. "I didn't hear you leave Lily's room last night before I fell asleep. I guess you didn't."

Joel let Lily go and faced Ellie. "Lily and I talked about some things last night."

"Yeah right, talking. Do I look stupid to you? Pfft whatever. Did you get back together or not?"

"Umm," he looked from his girl to Lily's smile and back again. "Yeah, everything is fine."

Ellie smiled. "Good. Are we going to eat or what?"

Lily chuckled. "Yeah, pancakes again," she turned back to the bowl while Joel flushed under Ellie's hard eye.

"Well, isn't this familiar?" Ellie lifted her nose and went past them to the bathroom.

Lily broke into laughter and Joel shook his head. The women in his life were the best kind of trouble and he wouldn't have it any other way.


	10. Chapter 10

The Road

Chapter Ten

After breakfast Joel helped Lily pack up the Jeep as Ellie went through the house replacing the dust covers. The nosey teen noticed Lily had powered down the laptop with the video from her ex on there. She frowned unable to snoop, but guessed she probably didn't need too seeing that Joel and Lily had got over their fight. Lily locked up and made her way out the upstairs window. Joel set the ladder in the grass by the garage and then pulled the Jeep through the front gate. Lily locked up the perimeter fence as well and they left the hideout behind. They were back on the highway a little after nine.

For the first hour things were pretty quiet. Ellie flipped through a comic book, Joel and Lily sipped coffee out of travel mugs. They got into the second hour and Ellie got bored. She set the comic down and looked up at the adults in front. "So, how much longer will we be in Iowa?"

Joel groaned, but Lily smiled. "Hours," Lily teased. "I guess you better get out your-"

"Please don't make me read you the history of this crappy state," Ellie request. "Anything but more of that."

Behind the wheel Joel chuckled. "It's history."

"It's boring. More boring then sitting back here doing nothing for fifty million hours."

Lily and Joel exchanged an amused look. "Bust out your earth science book Ellie," teacher ordered.

The nature stuff wasn't as boring as history and Lily could really get into it. "Okay," Ellie complied reaching into the back for her school bag. "What's the subject?"

"Let's talk about glaciations and their effects. Vinland is one of those places that was carved out during the last ice age."

Ellie brought the textbook back to her seat. "Vinland, it sounds like were going to some Viking hang out or something."

"Vikings huh?" Joel mused. "I remember the show, just before the world went to hell. Put it on after Sara went to bed, it was some wild shit."

"You watched something on history channel?" Lily harassed. "Ragnar was a dick, but he was pretty hot."

He looked at her sidelong. "Oh he was, was he?"

Lily was all smiles. "He was cute."

Ellie chuckled. "Jealous of the Viking guy Joel?"

"No I aint jealous of the Viking guy," he looked back at the road.

"Glaciers Ellie," Lily redirected her attention.

"Will you tell us more about Vinland?"

"After some studying."

"Fine," Ellie sounded put out as she flipped to the index. She spent the next hour reading about ice ages and the mechanics of a glacier. They talked about the great lakes, Lily told her about rouge waves and the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Her teacher went on to discuss the formation of the finger lakes in the center of New York state; their destination. Vinland sat on Cayuga Lake surrounded by rolling fields, vineyards and deciduous forests. It sounded beautiful and Ellie hoped that they would still be there when the leaves changed color some weeks from now.

Lily let a little of her past out; she had grown up with a big brother and younger sister with a view of one of the lakes. They spent a lot of summer time in the water as kids. The area was apple country before the vineyards sprouted up on the lakes. Empires were her favorites. Her love of nature is what sparked her interest in the environmental sciences. When the outbreak began, Lily's sister and parents were amongst the first to head to the Albany QZ, her sister still lived there with her own family. Lily's brother was serving in Kuwait when shit went south, she never saw him again. Joel quietly remembered the way the pandemic had ripped families apart.

"Do you think we'll be around for apple picking this fall?" Ellie asked hopeful.

"Probably," Lily smiled back at Ellie. "Richard will need some time to find the cure for mankind I think."

"Can we go?"

Lily nodded. "We send out crews to harvest all kinds of things, including apples. The braincases in Vineyard turned a Morton building into a giant freezer, the place has plenty of food."

"They got barbeque?" Joel had to ask.

"Some livestock is raised outside the wall, the hunting and fishing are good too, so yes."

"Good fishing?" he perked up even more.

"You can take a boat out on the lake if you want."

Ellie piped up "You can teach me to swim!"

Joel smiled. "Might be some time before the water is too cold to get some lessons in."

The girl was getting excited. "We're going to have a new home."

He looked at Lily and she nodded. Joel smiled into the rear view and told his happy kid, "Actually we'll be staying with Lily."

"Me casa es su casa," Lily waved a hand.

_Holy shit_. "You guys are shacking up! I totally knew this was going to happen!" Lily laughed, Joel smiled and shook his head. "So, does this mean we're like a family now?" The adults looked at each other. Ellie loved to see that goofy smile on her pops face. She imagined little red hearts where his eyes should be and busted up laughing. "Okay guys, we'll see how it goes."

"Sure we will." Joel reached over and gave Lily's hand a squeeze. She smiled at him amused with it all. A life on the lake with wine, fall leaves and good fishing sounded like a slice of paradise. He was sure it was going to be great, he was sure it was love.

2

A little after noon Joel pulled off the Lincoln Highway and into another gas stop with a quickie mart behind the pumps and gazebo seating on the western lawn. There were two cars parked along side the building; the Ford was in worse shape then the Saturn, they were the only cars in the lot. Slowly he circled the building watching to see if something would come running out at them. Nothing did so he parked beside the gas wells and shut the Jeep off. Everyone sat listening in the hot silence. All was quiet, Joel and Lily got out guns drawn. They went to check the market while Ellie sat sweating in the backseat. She was relieved when they came back out and got out of the Jeep immediately. It was too hot to sit in the back with no air moving.

Ellie stretched a little. "Are we safe?"

"We're alone, but lets keep our eyes open," Joel advised.

"Gazebo looks sturdy, " Lily looked across the lawn. "We can have lunch over there in the shade."

"Shade sounds good," Ellie waved a hand in front of her face.

"I'll say," Joel plucked at the front of his t-shirt. The girls were in shorts, but Joel owned only blue jeans. "Who set the thermostat to hell anyway?"

Lily smiled holstering her gun. "It will be cooler by the lake."

"Oh man I cant wait." Ellie stepped up to the back of the Jeep beside Lily. "Can I help set up for lunch?"

"Sure, you can grab the blanket and spread it out for us." Lily opened the back and she and Ellie looked inside. The girl grabbed the picnic blanket and started for the gazebo. Lily leaned in and reached into the box for the lunch foods she had prepackaged for their afternoon meal.

He was having a hard time keeping his eyes off the back pockets of Lily's shorts. "Can I carry something over there for us?"

"You can get us all a cold drink from the cooler," she peeked at him. His grin was lecherous. "Are you staring at my ass?"

"What can I say? It's a fine ass."

Lily grabbed the Tupperware. "Keep it PG until Elli's in bed there stud."

Joel laughed. "I am." He reached for their drinks. "You gonna be wearin them shorts later?"

She shook her head with a smile on her face and went to join Ellie in the shade. "Ugh, its still hot in the shade."

"Sucks the air doesn't work in the Jeep, but at least with the windows down its bearable."

Joel closed up the Jeep and brought the drinks over to his girls. They were spreading out lunch on the blanket. "Everybody rehydrate," he sat down and handed out sweet tea.

Ellie opened her drink and downed a big gulp. "Are we going to be in this crappy state much longer?"

"Two hours give or take," Lily opened her own tea for a cold drink. "We still have two more states to drive through before we get to Ohio. Which ones?"

"Illinois and Indiana," she knew her geography. "I don't want to do their history either just in case you were thinking of springing that on me."

Lily passed out sandwiches made from the berries she preserved in June. "You finished _Sounder_ didn't you?"

"Yeah last night. That shit was depressing." Ellie picked up half a sandwich. "Can we get a puppy?"

Joel rolled his eyes. "For the tenth time no."

"Tenth?" Lily was curious.

"Ever since she read that dang _White Fang_ I've been hearing this."

Yes, Ellie wanted a dog. "Can we get one when we go back to Jackson?"

"No," he cracked open his tea and quenched his thirst.

Lily came to Ellie's rescue. "Why not?"

"Because they chew things and piss on the floor."

"Not when they're trained."

He leaned back and looked at Lily. "Don't tell me you got puppy-itis too. No wonder you give her sad dog stories to read. You've been conspiring against me to get a puppy."

Ellie laughed. "The vote is two to one Joel."

"Aint no votin goin on here," he put the brakes on the puppy idea quick. "Now I think you outtta read somethin that don't got a dog in it and we'll discuss it when we get back to Jackson."

"I've got something good for you to read Ellie," Lily assured the girl.

"No dogs," Joel pointed the open end of his plastic bottle at Lily.

"No dogs," Lily kept the werewolf spoilers to herself.

Ellie swallowed a bite of sandwich. "It's not more sad shit is it?"

"Nope, Stephen King."

Ellie perked up, but Joel frowned. "I thought we had decided he was too mature for Ellie."

"No, we agreed that the tower series and Roland are too mature for Ellie. I'm giving her _The Talisman_ to read."

He hadn't read it. "Is it scary?"

"Joel!" Ellie protest embarrassed.

Lily slowly shook her head. "I'm not giving anybody spoilers."

"I can handle it," the student insisted.

"I know you can and I know you'll like the book."

With the two of them on the same side he couldn't get anywhere. "I hope it aint inappropriate for Ellie."

"The main character is a boy near Ellie's age, Jack Sawyer and that's all I'm telling you."

Another Stephen King story about a kid was something to get excited about. "Can I start reading it today?"

"Sure, right after you write a book report for _Sounder_."

_Crud_. "Fine. I'll write a stupid book report when we get back on the road."

Lily turned back to Joel. "Don't worry, _The Talisman_ is very long and engrossing. You can lose yourself for hours in the story."

A distracted kid meant no more 'are we out of this state yet?'. He chuckled. "I'll leave it to you Lily."

"Of course you will."

They finished lunch and had a quick stretch, it was too hot for much else and all were grateful to be back on the road with the wind blowing through the Jeep's open windows. Lily inserted a disk labeled _Fuck those stupid hipsters_ into the player, Ellie worked on her report and Joel drove on hoping a shoe eating puppy wasn't in his immediate future.

3

Ellie had begun reading her new book. There was a shadow hanging over Jack Sawyer's life, his mother was dying; depressing yes, but not enough to make Ellie quit reading. The book was huge and surely the cure awaited Jack at the end. She wasn't paying attention to the road and was oblivious to upcoming Cedar Rapids as she was in Maine with Jack and Speedy Parker. She wasn't even aware there was a problem until she heard Lily.

Lily always watched the rear view whenever she passed an exit. It was an old habit and a good one. Looking into the side mirror Lily saw a vehicle coming up on the road behind them. "Oh shit." She stuck her head out the window and looked back then dropped back inside. "We've got a military truck coming up behind us fast."

Joel's eyes went to the side mirror. "Soldiers?"

"Maybe, there's a QZ in the city."

Being spotted by a patrol was a bad thing, being caught would be even worse. Joel pushed the gas pedal to the floor. "Get your seatbelt on Ellie!"

Ellie marked her spot in the book and buckled up. She turned a little in her seat to see out the back. "They're gaining on us!"

"This thing only goes so fast," Joel frowned, they were barely breaking sixty in the soccer mom mobile.

Lily freed her gun. "Get in the left lane, I'll go for their tires."

"Wait," Joel unbuckled El Diablo and offered it to Lily with one hand. "Scope on this is accurate."

Lily took Joel's gun and handed her nine to Ellie. "Safety is on."

"Got it," Ellie pointed the business end of the gun at the floor between her feet as Joel eased them over into the passing lane.

She kept a tight grip on his gun as Lily pulled herself out the window to sit on the ledge. As she leveled the gun at the approaching truck a man with hair too long to be military rose up out of the port in the roof. Lily fired, missed and fired again. This time she hit him and he dropped back into the hole bleeding from the chest. She wasted no time and aimed for the trucks tires; it wasn't easy they were covered with protective metal plates just about everywhere.

Ellie was afraid for Lily hanging out of the truck the way she was. "Joel?!" she fret.

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

Lily got another two shots off, the truck began to weave making her target harder to hit. Another man popped out of the roof only this fucker didn't have a gun he had an "Oh shit RPG!" Lily yelled, but the wind tore her words away.

He heard Lily yell and a second later the road ahead exploded. Instinctively he jerked the wheel to avoid the debris cloud and the crater it was hiding. Ellie screamed "Lily!" as Joel saw his woman tip right out of the window.

Lily knew she was going to fall and tucked up as best she could before hitting the grass on the roadside. She hit hard enough to knock the gun from her hand and her arms away from her head. The wind was knocked out of her and Lily rolled downhill and into the fence that separated highway from old private property. She had the briefest moment to register that she was in pain and then the world went dark.

Joel locked up on the brakes and the ass end of the Jeep slid out turning them sideways in the road. "Oh my fucking god Lily!" Ellie was horrified.

Joel's eyes found Lily laying in the grass. The truck of marauders that were almost certainly not military were slowing to stop where Lily was. He grabbed the binoculars and focused on his woman. She was still breathing, the attackers were almost to her. Behind him Ellie started hitching in frightened sobs. "Hand me my huntin rifle now Ellie!"

The girl moved her numb body to fulfill his request. "Is Lily..."

"She's alive and I aint leaving her." He freed himself from his seatbelt. Joel reasoned that there couldn't be more then three more able bodies inside that truck. He would have to take them out and get Lily before reinforcements arrived. "Get out and stay behind the Jeep." He grabbed his gun and backpack and stepped out of the Jeep as the military truck rolled to a stop on the road not far from Lily. Joel shouldered his bag and leveled his rifle. He put one in the chest of the first hunter that stepped out of the truck. The man fell dead and his buddies inside closed the door quick.

Ellie was shaking as she ducked behind their ride. "It's a truck just like the one that chased us and Henry and Sam."

"It's gonna be alright." He joined her on the far side of the Jeep. The truck decided to come after them, Joel dug into his bag. "I'm gonna take these guys out then we're gonna go get Lily and get on outta here."

She could hear the truck coming closer. A second later they were shooting at the Jeep as the bandits raced their way. "Joel..." Ellie squeezed her eyes shut and gripped Lily's gun tightly.

He didn't have time to be messing around with these scumbags. One look through the binoculars and he could see Lily was bleeding. There was no way he would accept losing her now. As bullets plinked into the Jeep he hoped they were missing the engine. The truck came closer shooting all the way. He waited until the hunters were close enough then Joel rose up and threw a nail bomb directly at the windshield. It exploded shredding the shooter sticking out of the roof and the windshield shattered. The truck veered off to the right out of control and crashed into the chain link fence.

"Holy shit," Ellie pant looking at the smoking truck.

"Ellie, get in the Jeep and get down to Lily now. I'm gonna make sure these fuckers are dead and I'll be right there."

She nodded standing on shaky legs as her pops shouldered his rifle in favor of his sawed off Shorty. As Joel crossed the blacktop Ellie climbed into the drivers seat. She dropped it into drive and started back toward Lily avoiding the hole the RPG round had left in the road. Ellie was parking the truck when she heard Shorty go off down the road. Quickly she hurried to her teacher mom in the grass. "Oh fuck." Ellie knelt down beside Lily. The woman was bleeding from a nasty gash above her right eye, the area around it was already turning purple. Her arms and legs were scraped up and bleeding in some places too. "Lily?" Ellie took Lily's face in her hand. "Lily can you hear me?" The girl got no response so she peeled open Lily's eyelids. Not surprisingly one pupil was bigger then the other. She let go of Lily's face and checked her heart rate using the carotid to feel her pulse. Lily was hurt, maybe more then Ellie could tell, but her heart was still strong.

The girl ran back to the Jeep and came back with the first aid kit. She was bandaging Lily's head to stop the bleeding when Joel finally came running over. "Joel!"

Joel hurried to Ellie's side taking in Lily's damaged body. "Shit, how bad is it?"

"She's got a bad cut on her head and a concussion," Ellie kept wrapping.

He started with her legs gently feeling for broken bones. He got to her left wrist and squeezed a little. Lily's eyes flew open and she sucked in a pained breath before sagging unconscious again. "Her wrist is broke."

Ellie tied off the bandage and reached for the kit again. "There's a splint in here."

"Lets get it on and get the hell out of here."

She looked at her pops distressed. "I have to set it."

Joel swallowed hard. "Can you?"

"Lily taught me how, but... if you think just touching it hurt... this is gonna be bad."

He shifted so he could hold Lily still while Ellie did her thing. "Do it. Make it quick."

Her stomach was a pit of churning acid. "On three. One, two, three."

Lily opened her eyes again at the fresh pain rolling up her arm. "What the fuck?"

"Lily," Joel tried to get her to focus on him as Ellie did her work. "It's alright, we got you. It's gonna be fine."

Joel looked scared. "Am I shot?" she managed through lips that felt cold.

"No but you're banged up pretty good. Can you tell me where it hurts?"

Lily's head was swimming. "You have to make sure the seal is right or the pickles wont be any good."

Ellie wasn't so deeply focused on her task that she wasn't paying attention. A frightened, hysterical laugh bubbled out. "Yeah she hit her head alright."

"Lily its okay," Joel remained as calm as he could.

"Did the cops find our pot?" Lily's mind jumped from one distorted memory to another. "We've still got our tickets right?"

She was scaring him but Joel nodded. "Yup, we're good."

Lily nodded and closed her eyes. "Dick Cheeny did it," she muttered and then darkness had her again.

"What the double fuck?" Ellie secured the splint and then wiped the sweat off her forehead with her arm.

"You done?"

"I should probably disinfect these other cuts."

"Later," he moved to get Lily into his arms. "We gotta get the hell outta here."

Ellie closed up the kit as Joel lifted Lily off the grass. She ran ahead of him and opened the passenger door. Ellie reclined the seat all the way back and moved out of the way looking both ways down the road. "It's still clear."

Joel belted his injured lover into her seat. "Get in Ellie." On his way back to his seat Joel saw his gun in the road and retrieved it. El Diablo was scraped up but okay. They filed back into the Jeep and buckled in. Joel wasted no time turning them back east and putting the hammer down. He wanted distance between them and the attack site. "Keep an eye on Lily, we're getting the hell out of here."

4

Ellie stopped giving a crap if they were still in Iowa or not. Hours had passed, Lily was still out and they were nearing the state line when Joel asked "Ellie, get out that road atlas and check something for me."

"Where is it?"

"If it aint sittin out in the back its probably in Lily's backpack."

She undid her seatbelt and looked over her seat. Ellie didn't see the atlas out so she grabbed Lily's bag and brought it into her seat with her. She unzipped it and found the atlas at once. Ellie set Lily's bag on the floor at her feet. "Okay, I've got it."

"Open it up to Illinois and tell me where I get off thirty. Its the route highlighted yellow."

She looked it up. "Route fifty-two south to two fifty one then twenty four."

"Okay okay, just navigate for me. Lily was gonna take over the driving when we got out of Iowa, but that aint gonna happen so I need you to tell me where we're going."

"Do you think we can make it to her hideout without her?"

"We discussed the route last night. I'm sure we can manage."

Ellie looked at Lily in the fading afternoon light. "Lily's pretty fucked up."

He stole a worried peek at his love. "You did some real good first aid."

"Lily taught me. She said triage is important even in peaceful places because accidents happen. Like you at the plant I guess."

Joel had almost forgotten that cover story. "Her head wound stopped bleeding."

"I hate to be the one to tell you this but she totally needs stitches, I'd do three at least."

His eyes went to his girl in the rear view. "Think you can handle it?"

"Party dresses weren't the only reason Lily had me sewing." For a moment Ellie bowed her head and longed for Jackson. "I can do it. I'll numb it up and stitch it closed."

"We'll see to Lily proper when we get to our next stop."

"It's still hella far away isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so. We got another six hours or so of driving ahead."

Ellie sagged a little. "How are you holding up? I mean, I can drive for a while if you want me to."

"I'm alright, I can make it. You be my navigator and my look out, keep an eye on Lily."

"I wish she'd wake up."

So did he. "Try again, just talk soft to her see if you can bring her around. Get her to open her eyes."

"Lily," Ellie leaned closer to her maternal unit. "Lily can you open your eyes? Wake up Lily, come on, wake up."

Joel bounced his eyes between the road and his passengers willing Lily to wake up. "Come on Lily."

In her altered state of consciousness Lily heard Andrea calling her then she felt her shaking her. It was February 2026, they were in the woods overlooking an abandon airstrip. "Did you get my fucking bag?" she mumbled as her eyes rolled beneath their lids.

"Yes of course," Ellie was excited to get a response. "I've got it right here."

"My brag book is in there bitch you know it," in her dream Andrea smiled at her.

"Okay," Ellie leaned closer. "Lily, can you open your eyes for me?"

They were open, she was looking right at Andrea. Lily then realized they weren't open and it freaked her out enough to open them wide. Andrea looked weird. "What did you do to your hair?"

"Lily its me Ellie, can you see me alright?"

Her student replaced her old partner, Lily blinked. "Ellie?"

"Yeah," the girl smiled. "Welcome back."

A quick look around told her most of what was going on. Her screaming aches and pains filled in the gaps. "Oh fuck, what happened?"

"You fell out of the truck," Ellie studied Lily's pupils. "Your wrist is broken and you've got a nasty cut on your head."

"Are you guys alright?"

"We're alright," Joel reached over and rested a hand on her thigh relieved to see her making sense.

Now that she was waking the pain was taking over. "Ellie, the med kit in back. There's a blue plastic container with some pills in it. Grab me two."

Ellie moved to make it happen, Joel rubbed Lily's legs. "You alright?"

"It hurts everywhere."

"It's my fault, I was driving."

"They lobbed a bomb at us, its not your fault the road blew up."

He looked at her worried and sorry. "You about scared me half to death."

"I'll live, but those pills are going to put me out. Stick to the route and if I don't get up before we hit the Ohio state line wake me up." She closed her eyes for a moment pushing back the pain.

"Are you goin to be alright?"

"It will suck to be me for a while but we'll manage."

Ellie brought Lily her pills and helped her open her tea to take them. "Are you okay Lily?"

She chased the pills with the rest of her tea. "I'll be fine Ellie I'm just a little busted up is all. Probably looks worse then it is."

"Not your head," Ellie crinkled her nose. "You need stitches."

"Great, well we will deal with that when were no longer in a moving vehicle."

"I'm really glad you sound like you again," Ellie sighed relieved. "You were talking about pickles and cops taking your pot."

Joel smiled. "Then you told us Dick Cheeny did it."

"Great," she dropped the empty bottle near her feet and relaxed back in her seat.

"You said something about a brag book too. What is that?"

"Its a book with pictures in it," Joel answered. "I used to keep one full pictures of Sara in my glove box."

"What happened to it?" Ellie smiled at her pops.

He shook his head. "Got left behind when we evacuated. Everything did."

That was disappointing, Ellie looked at Lily. "Do you still have yours Lily?"

The heat of the day came crushing down on her. _Sure kid its in my bag I never leave home without it._ "Ahh," Lily brought her good hand to her head and touched the bandage. "Fuck, my head."

"Easy," Joel soothed. "Maybe you need some quiet Lily. Now that we know you're alright we wont pester you. Go on and let them drugs knock you out."

"I'll check on you in a couple hours," Ellie backed off feeling bad for Lily. The poor woman had to be hurting.

Lily nodded a little and settled waiting for the pills to put her to sleep. She tried not to think about the pictures in her bag. A few minutes later she was back in the snowy woods with Andrea and the Jeep ceased to exist around her.

Ellie waited until she was sure Lily had fallen asleep before she leaned forward to talk to Joel. "It's good that she woke up."

"Lily is gonna be alright, she's just banged up and achin everywhere."

"Is it okay for her to be traveling like this?"

"We don't have much choice right now."

"If our next stop is a safe place should we stay there a few days, give Lily a chance to recover?"

He sighed knowing he wasn't going to be letting Lily do any one handed driving. "Naw, I'd rather get her to that doctor friend of hers, make sure she's alright."

"Good point. I guess that means you'll be doing a lot of driving."

"I'll manage. You just be sure you're navigating and paying attention for me while Lily is resting up."

"I can do that." Ellie nodded and settled back in her seat. She checked the atlas against the road signs they passed. They still had a long way to go. _I can totally do this._

5

By seven o'clock the light was almost gone, they were in the middle of Indiana and Ellie hungry. She sifted though the food box and found what she needed to fix a couple of jam sandwiches. She passed one up to her pops, he was grateful for the sugar boost appetizer, but what he really wanted dinner. "We're almost there," he promised his girl.

Not long after he finished his sandwich Joel started seeing signs for the state line, finally he bade Ellie "Go on and wake Lily up."

"Lily, come on get up. Joel needs help finding our way around Ohio."

She heard Ellie calling and forced herself awake. "Okay, I'm up. Where are we?"

"We'll be crossing the state line in about five minutes." Joel responded.

"Okay." Lily opened her eyes, the day was gone. She dropped her hand to the lever on the side of her seat and brought the seat up some with her as she forced herself to sit up. Her head began throbbing at once. "Oh fuck."

"Don't push it Lily" Ellie was concerned.

"Take your time," Joel reached for her again and pat her knee. "We aint far from your hide now are we?"

"No not at all."

"Can you get us there?"

"Yes, take the first exit and head south."

Joel followed Lily's directions and in no time the headlights were shining on the gate at the driveway of a property surrounded by fencing and abandon cargo trailers. The other driveways in the small, suburban neighborhood were filled with cars, some spilling over onto their lawns. Though he could barely make out the house over the perimeter wall Joel caught the gleam of solar panels on the roof. Lily told him where to find the key to the padlock, he moved the right rock and found it. Joel opened the gate and Ellie pulled the Jeep up the drive to the garage adjacent to the house. He locked up behind them and ran up to meet them. "Pull right up in front of the house Ellie." He drew his gun as she obeyed.

Ellie shut the Jeep as Joel disappeared behind the house circling the property. This house, a ranch, was boarded up the same way the farmhouse had been. "How do we get in?"

"The key is in that middle flowerpot buried half way down in a plastic baggie," Lily pointed. "It unlocks the side door, but first you'll need to move the crates stacked in front of it out of the way."

"I got it." Ellie got out as Joel came around the other side. She went to get the house key and got him started moving the crates out of the way. Ellie unlocked the house and shone a flashlight inside. On the kitchen counter an oil lamp sat. She went to it digging a lighter out of her pocket. "Let's get some light in here." The small lamp illuminated the room and Joel moved ahead of Ellie. "Go check Lily. I'll sweep the house and then come and get her inside." Ellie left the light on the counter, he used his own flashlight to check each of the rooms. They were peacefully alone and he hurried back to Lily. He found her getting out of the truck with Ellie's help.

"Easy," Ellie tried to hold Lily up, her teacher was shaky.

He was there to catch Lily when her knees gave way. "I got ya." Joel swept Lily into his arms. "It's alright, ya aint got your legs back yet."

She was mindful to keep her broken wrist out of the way. "I guess not. Ellie, the main power switch is in the kitchen pantry. Throw that and we'll have some light. Flip on the perimeter fence too, red switch."

"Okay," she led the adults back inside with her flashlight. Ellie went to the pantry while Joel carried Lily into the shadowy living room. She pushed the main switch to ON and called "Okay."

Joel set Lily in a chair and turned on the light on the end table beside it. "I'll get some lights on."

Ellie came into the living room as Joel turned on a third lamp. "Jesus Lily you look rough."

"Thanks."

Ellie pulled the dust cover off the couch and balled it up. She tossed it into a corner and went to Lily's side. "You want to move over there and I'll get you fixed up?"

"We should probably do it in the kitchen there is going to be blood to clean up."

Joel stepped up. "Okay, Ellie, you help me bring our stuff in then I'll move Lily into the kitchen and you can get her fixed up."

"Okay." She hurried to follow Joel nervous about stitching up her teacher. Ellie put the atlas back in Lily's bag and grabbed the first aide kit. She carried it with both their packs back inside.

Joel grabbed his bag and the box with their various food items, he left it on the kitchen counter and set his back pack with theirs in the living room. "You ready for this Lily?" he was anxious.

"I need to know how bad it is don't I?"

"I reckon."

"Then lets do this."

"Alright." He scooped her out of the chair and took her into the kitchen. He eased her into one of the captains chairs at the table as Ellie opened the med kit.

"Inject the Novocain before you start cleaning it up," Lily instructed. "Check the bathroom closet for more sterile gauze."

"I'll get it," Ellie went, turning on lights as she moved.

Lily reached for her head bandage. "Take it off."

"Alright be still." She rested her hands in her lap, he untied the knot and slowly unwrapped her head. Carefully he pulled the bandage away from the long deep cut over her left eye. "Jesus Christ Lily."

"Is it bad?"

"It aint good. It definitely needs stitches."

"Am I horribly disfigured?" she teased up at him to abate his worry.

His smile was melancholy. "Naw you're still the most beautiful woman in the world." He leaned down and softly kissed her lips.

"Fuck Joel she just came out of a coma," Ellie chide coming back in. "Let the woman breath will ya?"

He looked over his shoulder at his girl. "Shouldn't you be boiling water or something?"

"Yes actually I need sterile water." Ellie pulled a pot off the stove and got it under running water to rinse the dust out.

Lily reached up with her right hand and put it on his face to direct his attention back her. "Maybe you can handle fixing some dinner while Ellie uses me as a pincushion hmmm?"

His sweetheart was covered in her own blood. "She can sew you up then I'll help you get to the bathroom so you can get cleaned up."

"Deal."

6

Lily made Ellie do some deep breathing exercises with her while her forehead went numb. By the time the girl went to start stitching her hands were steady and she was calm. Joel boiled water for pasta and started warming the meat sauce before helping Lily into the bathroom. She walked there, but Joel took as much weight off her weak legs as he could without lifting her up. He left them to freshen up while he went and finished dinner. It took some doing, but between the two of them Lily and Ellie got all her scrapes cleaned out and treated. Lily's head was freshly bandaged and her body was stinging everywhere when they were done; she swallowed two more pain pills with her spaghetti. After dinner she let Joel carry her to the couch. He went around pulling off dust covers while Ellie did dishes. It was already nine o'clock when they all sat down to watch _The A Team_. The pills kicked in and Lily fell asleep half way through. Ellie turned down a bed and Joel carried her to it. He tucked her in elevating her broken wrist on a pillow and went to finish the movie with Ellie.

Ellie was yawning and Joel looked asleep by the time the credits rolled. "Alright," Ellie stood. "I'm going to take that room next to the bathroom. You should really get to bed too. Its a long drive from here to New York."

"I reckon we'll be on the road ten or twelve hours," he rubbed his cheek through his beard. "Lily will need to rest through some of that, those pills make her mighty tired. I'm gonna be counting on you to keep a look out and remind me when I need to take a turn."

"I can do that."

"Alright, go on and get your teeth brushed and get to bed. I'll be getting us up early."

She nodded at her pops and grabbed her backpack. "Goodnight Joel." Ellie went down the hall to the bathroom.

He heard the door close and leaned back rubbing his face again. He was exhausted physically and mentally. The driving left him road weary and Lily's condition had him stressed. _She's gonna be alright_. One more long day and they would be in Vineland; the doc could check Lily out and then get busy on a vaccine. They could settle down in Lily's place and Joel could nurse her back to health. A quiet autumn in the finger lakes was in their future and Joel held onto the idea to keep him going.

When Ellie finished in the bathroom Joel went in and performed his nightly ritual. He wanted to sleep next to Lily, but he was afraid he'd squish or hurt her in the night so he opted to sleep on the couch. It was across from the open door to the room Lily slept in, he would hear her if she got up or called to him. He shut the lights and went to the couch to get comfortable. He turned off the dvd and tv with their remotes and lie back to get some sleep. Within minutes he was sound asleep.


End file.
